EXCHANGE 


EXCHANGE 
1  u  fine 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN 

IN  THE  ELEMENTARY 

GRADES 


By 
KRAMER  JACOB  HOKE 

SECOND  ASSISTANT  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS 
RICHMOND,  VA. 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1916 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN 

IN  THE  ELEMENTARY 

GRADES 


By 
KRAMER  JACOB  HOKE 

SECOND  ASSISTANT  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS 
RICHMOND,  VA. 


Submitted  in   Partial  Fulfillment  of   the  Requirements   for  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Faculty  of 

Philosophy,  Columbia  University. 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1916 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

I  am  indebted  and  profoundly  grateful  to  Dr.  George  Drayton  Strayer, 
of  Columbia  University,  under  whose  general  direction  this  investigation 
was  made,  for  helpful  criticisms  and  suggestions.  To  Dr.  J.  A.  C. 
Chandler,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Richmond,  Virginia,  I  am  obligated 
for  valuable  assistance  in  collecting  these  data  and  for  the  privilege 
of  using  the  data  concerning  the  mental  ages  of  children.  From  Dr. 
John  Cummings,  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Statistics,  and  Dr. 
W.  T.  Bawden,  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  I  received 
helpful  suggestions  concerning  the  statistical  tables.  I  express  my  thanks 
to  Miss  Sarah  C.  Brooks  and  Miss  Minnie  L.  Davis,  of  the  public  schools 
of  Richmond,  Virginia,  for  assistance  in  reading  the  proof. 

K.  J.  H. 


327801 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

Chapter  1.  Introduction 7 

II.  Progress  of  children  in  the  elementary  schools    (white) 16 

III.  Progress  of  children  in  the  elementary  schools   (negro) 25 

IV.  Acceleration  and  retardation  by  grades  and  ages 32 

V.  Absence  and  entrance  age  in  relation  to  progress  through  school. .  44 

VI.  Application   of   mental   tests   for   determining  the   placement  of 

children 58 

VII.  Further  application  of  mental  tests  for  the  placement  of  children 

and    the    results 85 

5 


THE  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  recent  years  many  students  of  education  have  been  placing 
considerable  emphasis  on  the  study  of  scientific  measurements  applied 
to  the  achievements  of  school  children  with  a  view  to  putting  edu- 
cational practice  on  a  more  scientific  basis  than  in  the  past. 

Because  of  the  lack  of  scientific  information,  many  theories  not 
justified  by  systematic  observation  have  obtained  currency.  As  a 
result,  much  of  the  time  and  energy  of  teachers  and  pupils  has  been 
spent  to  a  great  disadvantage;  confusion  has  been  produced,  and 
the  advancement  of  the  teaching  profession  has  at  tunes  been  greatly 
retarded. 

Gradually  a  body  of  scientific  knowledge  concerning  the  actual 
accomplishment  of  school  children  is  evolving.  Administrators  are 
being  trained  to  realize  the  need  of  accurate  and  uniform  records 
whereby  the  progress  of  children  can  be  determined,  not  only  in 
relation  to  other  children  in  the  city,  but  also  to  children  in  other 
cities.  By  this  means  standards  or  norms  in  educational  practice 
will  be  set  up  whereby  one  school  system  can  be  compared  with  an- 
other as  to  the  amount  of  elimination,  retardation,  and  promotion; 
the  percentage  of  children  entering  the  high  school  from  the  elemen- 
tary school,  and  the  like.  Such  information  has  also  been  used  to 
determine  the  relative  differences  between  sexes  and  nationalities  for 
the  purpose  of  planning  courses  of  study,  the  organization  of  children 
into  classes,  and  the  determining  of  other  educational  policies. 
Administrators  are  further  beginning  to  realize  the  necessity  for  defi- 
nite and  objective  standards  for  guidance  in  the  expenditure  of 
school  finances.  A  superintendent  of  schools  in  one  city  should  know 
how  much  he  is  spending  to  educate  a  child  through  the  kindergarten, 
the  elementary  school,  and  the  high  school,  as  well  as  the  amount 
spent  for  the  same  purposes  by  a  superintendent  of  schools  in  another 
city. 


8    /.      *  FL^CETYTENT   PF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

The  application  of  scientific  measurements  to  the  achievement  of 
school  children  is  revealing  waste  and  unbusinesslike  methods  in  many 
school  systems.  Due  consideration  has  not  been  given  to  the  amount 
of  time  and  energy  spent  in  relation  to  achievement — or,  in  business 
terms,  the  amount  of  money  spent  in  relation  to  value  received.  A 
school  system  should  meet  the  same  requirements  that  any  business 
corporation  must  meet.  The  output  must  be  commensurate  with 
expenditure.  If  school  men  are  to  secure  and  retain  the  support  of 
the  business  men  and  the  taxpayers,  they  must,  in  the  future,  dem- 
onstrate their  ability  to  handle  finances  on  a  businesslike  basis. 

In  this  connection  the  psychologist  has  played  an  important  part 
in  the  establishment  of  general  mentality  tests  and  special  subject 
tests  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  amount  and  kind  of  results, 
together  with  standards  for  guidance  in  educational  practice.  Tests 
that  lend  themselves  most  readily  to  practical  uses  in  the  public 
schools  are  the  Binet-Simon  tests  and  De  Sanctis  tests  for  general 
mentality,  and  the  Courtis  arithmetic  tests,  the  Hillegas  and  Harvard- 
Newton  language  scales,  the  Thorndike,  Ayres,  and  Freeman  hand- 
writing scales,  the  Buckingham  spelling  scale,  and  the  Thorndike 
drawing  and  reading  scales  as  special  subject  tests. 

In  this  scientific  movement  two  great  goals  have  been  kept  in 
view.  They  are,  first,  the  establishment  of  objective  standards 
whereby  the  workers  in  educational  practice  can  not  only  measure 
actual  results  of  their  time,  energy,  and  methods,  but  will  also  have 
guideposts  which  will  indicate  clearly  the  different  stages  in  the 
child's  development;  and,  second,  the  prevention  of  waste  through 
misplacement  of  children. 

Much  progress  has  been  made  in  the  establishment  of  objective 
standards  in  the  important  subjects  of  the  curriculum,  but  the  place- 
ment of  children  by  means  of  mental  tests  has  not  progressed  so 
rapidly,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  mental  tests  now  available  for  prac- 
tical purposes  do  not  give  all  the  information  needed.  The  Binet- 
Simon  tests  have  been  widely  used  to  locate  mentally  defective  and 
retarded  children.  Recently,  however,  children's  mental  ages  deter- 
mined by  the  Binet-Simon  tests,  instead  of  their  chronological  ages, 
have  been  used  as  a  standard  to  measure  the  amount  of  retarded, 
accelerated,  and  normal  progress  of  children.  Educational  adminis- 
trators see  the  need  of  some  accurate  means  for  determining  children's 
mental  abilities  or  mental  ages  in  order  to  place  them  properly  in 
school. 

In  order  to  show,  then,  that  certain  educational  practices  do 
result  in  waste  of  time,  energy,  and  money,  and  can  not  be  justified 
from  a  practical  and  businesslike  viewpoint,  and,  further,  that  tests 
can  be  employed  to  prevent  much  of  this  waste  and  thereby  secure  a 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

more  businesslike  administration,  a  study  has  been  made  in  the  city 
of  Richmond,  Va. 

Before  proceeding  to  this  study,  information  on  the  following  topics 
is  given  in  order  to  interpret  better  the  data  submitted:  The  school 
buildings,  the  rules  and  regulations  whereby  the  system  is  adminis- 
tered, the  teaching  corps,  the  course  of  study  and  time  allotment,  the 
composition  of  the  school  enrollment,  the  grades  and  the  ages  for 
children  in  the  kindergarten,  the  elementary  school,  and  the  high  school, 
and  the  system  of  promotion.  These  facts  will  be  discussed  briefly 
in  the  order  mentioned. 

This  study  has  been  made  entirely  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  which, 
according  to  the  census  of  1910,  has  a  population  of  127,628,  of  whom 
46,733  are  Negroes.  In  November,  1914,  Richmond  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  the  electorate  the  Virginia  compulsory  school-attendance  law. 

This  measure  was  put  in  operation  September,  1915.  The  law 
states — 

that  every  parent,  guardian,  or  other  person  having  charge  or  control  of  any  child 
between  the  ages  of  8  and  12  years  shall  be  required  to  send  such  child  to  a  public 
school  of  this  Commonwealth  for  at  least  12  weeks  in  each  school  year,  at  least  6  weeks 
of  which  shall  be  consecutive,  unless  the  district  school  trustees  of  the  district  in 
which  such  parent,  guardian,  or  other  person  resides  excuse  for  cause  such  child,  or 
unless  such  child  be  weak  in  body  or  mind,  or  can  read  and  write,  or  is  attending  a 
private  school,  or  lives  more  than  2  miles  by  the  usually  traveled  route  from  the  nearest 
public  school  or  more  than  1  mile  from  the  line  of  an  established  public  free-school 
wagon  route. 

While  this  law  is  far  from  what  is  desired,  it  is  a  beginning 
that  will  result  in  better  legislation  in  the  near  future.  In  the 
past  the  attendance  that  has  been  secured  has  depended  almost 
entirely  on  the  interest  aroused  by  the  principal,  the  teacher,  and  the 
parent. 

That  the  teaching  force  has  been  able  to  arouse  the  interest  of  the 
children  and  to  hold  them  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  49  per  cent  of 
the  school  population  in  1903  was  enrolled  and  39  per  cent  in  attend- 
ance, while  65.5  per  cent  was  enrolled  in  1913  and  52  per  cent  in 
attendance.  During  recent  years  considerable  effort  has  been  made 
by  the  teaching  force  to  learn  the  child's  home  conditions.  If  a 
child  leaves  school,  the  teacher  immediately  inquires  the  reason. 
If  it  is  impossible  to  have  this  child  return  to  the  day  school,  an 
effort  is  made  to  have  him  enter  the  night  school. 

The  efficiency  of  the  teaching  force  has  also  increased.  Teachers 
have  been  constantly  taking  advantage  of  summer  normal  schools, 
professional  reading  courses,  and,  in  some  cases,  more  protracted 
courses  at  universities. 

This  improvement  is  shown  from  the  following  data,  which  give 
the  number  of  collegiate,  normal,  professional,  special,  first-grade, 


10 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


1913 


15.3 


13.1 


1908       26.7 


8.1 

0.5  DHHH 
3.7 

8.2 


13.3 


29.6 


0.2 


72.1 


7.4 


Collegiate 


Normal 


Professional 


Special 


First  Grade 


High  School 


and  high-school  certificates  in  force 
in  1908  and  in  1913,  respectively, 
together  with  the  proportion  which 
each  class  of  certificates  constituted 
of  the  total  numher  of  certificates  in 
each  of  these  grades: 

Teachers'  certificates  in  1908  and  1913. 


Character  of  certifi- 
cates. 

Teachers  holding  certificates  of 
specified  character. 

Number. 

Percentage. 

1908 

1913 

1908 

1913 

Collee;iate 

31 
2 

14 
31 
274 
28 

83 
71 
145 
72 
161 
11 

8.1 
.5 
3.7 
8.2 
72.1 
7.4 

15.3 
13.1 

26.7 
13.3 
29.6 
2.0 

Normal 

Professional.. 

Special 

First  grade.  .  . 

High  school  
Total  

380 

543 

100.0 

100.0 

The  relative  value  of  these  differ- 
ent certificates  is  indicated  by  the 
order  in  which  they  are  mentioned. 
The  collegiate  and  normal,  as  well  as 
the  professional,  certificates  represent 
the  greatest  amount  of  professional 
or  scholastic  training,  while  the  high- 
school  and  the  first-grade  certificates 
represent  the  smallest  amount  of  pro- 
fessional or  scholastic  training.  The 
first  three  grades  of  certificates,  and 
even  the  fourth  (special)  in  some  in- 
stances, are  to  be  encouraged,  while 
the  last  two  grades  of  certificates  are 
to  be  discouraged. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  figures 
that  79.5  per  cent  of  all  the  certifi- 
cates in  force  in  1908  were  either 
first-grade  or  high-school,  the  corre- 
sponding proportions  for  1913  being 
only  31.6  per  cent.  This  change  in 
the  character  of  the  certificates  in 
force  from  1908  to  1913  is  represented 
graphically  in  figure  1. 

The  time  allotment  (which  is  shown 
in  Tables  1  and  2  in  terms  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  H 

percentages  of  the  total  time  given  to  each  subject  per  week  from 
1903  to  1913)  indicates  with  fair  accuracy  the  changes  in  the  time 
schedule  which  controlled  the  teachers'  instruction  in  the  classroom 
during  the  past  10  years.  The  total  number  of  minutes  per  week 
given  to  each  grade  is  shown  at  the  bottom  of  the  tables.  The  distri- 
bution of  this  time  by  subjects  in  the  several  grades  is  given  in  per- 
centages. Therefore  these  figures  indicate  not  only  the  distribution 
of  the  weekly  time  allotment  by  subjects  in  1903  and  in  1913,  but 
also  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  this  distribution  in  that 
time. 

Some  of  the  changes  in  the  time  allotment  that  have  taken  place 
between  1903  and  1913  are  significant.  For  example,  43.2  per  cent 
of  the  total  time  available  in  the  1A  grade  was  devoted  in  1903  to 
reading  and  literature,  while  in  1913  the  proportion  given  to  reading 
and  literature  in  this  same  grade  was  29.9  per  cent.  In  the  2A,  2B, 
3 A,  and  3B  grades  there  was  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  total 
time  given  to  reading  and  literature  in  1913  than  in  1903.  Marked 
changes  are  found  also  in  arithmetic,  spelling,  penmanship,  and  other 
subjects.  In  general,  it  would  seem  that  the  changes  which  have 
been  made  in  the  allotment  of  time  to  the  different  subjects  indicate 
an  effort  to  secure  more  intensive  and  rational  teaching,  as  well  as 
a  distribution  of  time  by  subjects  better  suited  to  the  capacities  of  the 
children  in  the  several  grades. 


12 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IK   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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INTRODUCTION. 


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14 


PLACEMENT  OP  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


The  composition  of  the  school  enrollment,  so  far  as  the  presence 
of  any  foreign  element  is  concerned,  is  homogeneous.  In  fact  the 
number  of  children  of  foreign  extraction  is  so  small  as  to  be  prac- 
tically a  negligible  quantity,  with  the  exception  of  one  school.  One 
factor,  however,  in  the  school  population  enrolled  stands  out  promi- 
nently. The  school  enrollment  is  made  up  of  the  two  races,  white 
and  colored,  which  are  kept  entirely  separate.  The  enrollment  for 
the  session  uf  1913-14  was  as  follows: 

Enrollment  in  the  schools  of  Richmond  in  1913-14- 


Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

White                                 

6,318 

6,915 

13,233 

2,850 

3,839 

6,689 

Total                   

9,168 

10,  754 

19,922 

It  is  seen  that  there  are  about  half  as  many  Negro  children  as 
white  children  enrolled. 

The  organization  of  the  Richmond  school  system  provides  for  two 
years  in  the  kindergarten,  seven  years  in  the  elementary  schools,  and 
four  years  in  the  high  school.  The  normal  age J  for  children  to  enter 
the  grades  is  at  7  years,  but  in  the  last  few  years  a  large  number  of 
children  have  been  entering  under  7  years,  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
have  become  too  old  for  the  kindergarten.  This  condition  is  being 
met  by  the  introduction  of  connecting  classes  which  meet  the  needs 
of  the  children  who  are  too  old  for  kindergarten  and  too  young  for 
the  first  grade. 

The  system  provides  for  semiannual  promotion,  so  that  the  grades 
in  the  elementary  schools  run  from  1A,  IB,  2A,  etc.,  to  7B.  More- 
over, considerable  attention  has  been  given  to  the  question  of  making 
the  grading  system  elastic,  so  that  children  can  be  advanced  at  any 
tune  through  the  year  as  their  ability  and  progress  demand.  There 
has  been  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  many  that  children  are  being  held 
back  when  their  ability  would  enable  them  to  advance.  A  desire  to 
secure  more  scientific  information  on  this  problem  than  the  regular 
school  records  supplied  prompted  the  employment  of  a  woman  who 
could  use  the  Binet-Simon  tests  in  measuring  children's  mental 
abilities.  This  situation  made  possible  much  of  the  information 
which  is  used  in  this  study. 

In  order  to  make  an  application  of  tests  to  the  results  achieved  by 
the  children  in  the  schools  of  the  city  of  Richmond,  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  inquire  into  what  has  been  actually  happening  to  some 
of  the  children,  at  least,  who  have  been  in  school  a  number  of  years ; 

i  A  recent  legislative  enactment  reduces  the  entering  age  for  children  in  the  public  schools  of  Virginia 


to  6  years. 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

to  ascertain  what  progress  these  children  have  made  through  the 
grades,  where  some  of  them  have  repeated  and  at  what  age,  where 
others  have  dropped  out  and  at  what  age. 

Therefore  the  plan  which  has  been  pursued  in  this  study  consists 
of,  first,  a  study  of  the  progress  of  a  group  of  children,  627  white  and 
547  Negro,  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  seven  years  ago,  September, 
1906,  through  seven  years — the  school  life  of  a  child  who  makes 
normal  progress — in  order  to  show  what  is  actually  taking  placr>  in 
the  history  of  the  children  who  enter  the  Richmond  school  system; 
second,  a  study  consisting  of  the  progress  of  897  white  children  who 
made  up  the  enrollment  of  the  1A  to  the  5A  grades,  inclusive,  in  three 
schools,  and  of  a  group  of  787  white  children  who  were  selected  from 
the  1A  to  the  5A  grades  of  10  schools  because  they  were  a  year  or 
more  over  age  chronologically  for  their  grade  or  because  they  had 
made  frequent  repetitions.  All  of  the  children  in  the  last  two  groups 
were  tested  with  the  Binet-Simon  tests.  From  the  data  thus  ob- 
tained it  is  evident  (1)  that  many  children  are  misplaced,  (2)  that 
mental  tests  can  be  employed  to  determine  where  they  ought  to  be, 
and  (3)  that  many  of  these  children  can  succeed  when  differently 
placed,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 
PROGRESS  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  (WHITE). 


During  the  past  few  years  the  information  on  the  cumulative 
record  cards  in  the  cities  where  they  have  been  in  use  for  some  time 
has  supplied  the  material  for  several  studies  in  educational  admin- 
istration. By  means  of  the  information  contained  on  these  cards, 
the  progress  of  children  through  the  schools  has  been  studied  and 
conclusions  drawn  therefrom  that  serve  as  a  basis  for  many  changes 
in  educational  practice.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  more  city  school 
systems  have  not  made  an  attempt  to  secure  the  helpful  informa- 
tion which  such  records  make  possible.  Of  31  southern  cities  to 
which  an  inquiry  as  to  the  use  of  the  cumulative  record  cards  was 
sent  in  March,  1913,  only  14  reported  their  use.  In  nine  cities  the 
cards  have  been  introduced  since  1910,  in  one  they  were  introduced 
in  1906,  in  another  in  1907,  while  in  only  one  city  did  the  use  of  the 
cards  date  back  as  far  as  1900. 

As  the  school  system  of  the  city  of  Richmond  continued  to  grow 
and  become  more  complex,  the  school  officials  saw  the  necessity  for 
accurate  information  concerning  the  child's  family  and  school  history. 
Consequently  a  cumulative  record  card  was  introduced  in  Septem- 
ber, 1906.  The  following  is  a  sample  card  duly  filled: 

CUMULATIVE  RECORD  CARD. 

[FRONT.] 


T  ,  HITE 

Jonn 


(Name  in  full.    Write  last  name  first.) 

RESIDENCE 

FEMALE  } AGE.. DATE  OF  BIRTH  5/3/1899..  PLACE  OF  BIRTH,  Rd.,  Va. 

CUARDIAH1    Mrs.H.H E.ClaySt 

J1ArjJ         (Name)  (Residence)  (Occupation) 

VACCINATED  BY  DR . . 


PASSED  ON  INSPECTION  BY  DR Sept 1906 

ENTERED Central  SCHOOL Sept 1906 

TRANSFERRED  |p§OM| High  SCHOOL Sept 1913 


16 


PKOGRESS  IN    THE   ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    ( WHITE). 
CUMULATIVE  RECORD  CARD. 

[BACK.] 


17 


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When  the  records  were  made  for  the  first  time,  every  child  in  the 
1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  was  recorded  as  having  entered  that 
grade  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  1906-7.  The  children  so 
recorded  ought  to  form  the  entering  group  for  this  session;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  some  of  these  children  were  repeating  the  1A  grade, 
having  entered  prior  to  September,  1906.  This  group  of  children 
and  those  who  entered  in  February,  1907,  the  beginning  of  the 
second  half  term,  make  up  the  total  enrollment  in  the  1A  grade  for 
the  session  of  1906-7.  This  enrollment,  according  to  the  superin- 
tendent's report  of  that  year,  was  650  for  the  white  schools  and  572 
for  the  colored  schools. 

According  to  the  record  cards  there  were  627  children  in  the  white 
schools  in  September,  1906,  and  547  in  the  colored  schools,  or  a  total 
of  1,174  children  who  had  either  entered  or  were  repeating  the  1A 
grade.  The  school  history  of  these  1,174  children  presents  many 
problems  such  as  the  following:  How  many  have  completed  the 
elementary  schools  in  normal  time  ?  How  many  of  those  who  have 
finished  have  entered  the  high  school?  How  many  are  still  in  the 
elementary  schools,  and  where  and  at  what  ages  were  they  retarded  ? 
How  many  had  finished  the  elementary  schools  in  less  than  the 
normal  time  and  what  became  of  them?  How  many  had  dropped 
out  of  school  and  what  became  of  them?  Of  this  dropped  group, 
how  many  had  not  repeated  a  grade  and  how  many  had  repeated  a 
grade  ?  At  what  ages  and  in  what  grades  ? 
_16 2 


18 


PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


These  and  other  questions  will  be  answered  in  connection  with  the 
white  children  by  the  data  in  the  following  tables. 

If  a  child  was  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  and  would  ad- 
vance two  grades  each  year,  he  would  complete  the  elementary  schools 
of  Richmond  in  seven  years,  the  normal  time.  This  would  make  this 
child  finish  the  7B  grade  in  June,  1913,  and  be  ready  for  the  high 
school  in  September,  1913. 

Therefore,  if  the  children  who  were  in  the  1 A  grade  of  the  Richmond 
school  system  in  September,  1906,  are  divided  according  to  their 
progress  they  will  be  classified  as  follows :  Those  who  have  completed 
the  work  of  the  elementary  grades  in  normal  time  or  less  than  nor- 
mal time  (seven  years)  will  be  called  the  finished  group;  those  who 
have  not  completed  the  work  of  the  elementary  grades  in  seven  years 
and  are  still  in  school  will  be  called  the  unfinished  group ;  and  those 
who  left  school  before  the  expiration  of  seven  years  will  be  called  the 
dropped  group.  This  classification  for  the  627  white  children  will 
give  the  following  distribution: 

Classification  of  627  white  children  in  1A  grade  in  September,  1906. 


Groups. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

I.  Finished  group: 
In  less  than  normal  time  

4 

2 

6 

In  normal  time 

20 

30 

50 

II.  Unfinished  group  

98 

96 

194 

III.  Dropped  group: 
With  no  repetition 

48 

44 

92 

With  repetition  

150 

135 

285 

Total      

320 

307 

627 

For  the  purpose  of  analysis  each  of  these  groups  will  be  studied 
separately. 

TABLE  3. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  finished  group  (white). 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Finished  group 
in  — 

Normal  group. 

Acct 

1A 

derated 
set 

IB 

*roup  in 
ool. 

2A 

high 
2B 

Nor- 
mal 
time. 

Less 
than 
normal. 

In 
high 
school. 

Not  in 
high 
school. 

13  

/Boys.  .  . 
1  Girls  

\Girls.!. 
/Boys  

9 
13 
11 
16 

3 

8 
13 
11 
16 

1 

2 

1 

14 

1 
2 

1 



2 

\Girls  

Boys.  .  . 
Girls  

1 

1 



20 
30 

4 
2 

19 
29 

1 
i 

2 
2 

2 

Table  3  shows  that  out  of  627  children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade 
September,  1906,  only  4  boys  and  2  girls,  or  less  than  1  per  cent  (0.96 
per  cent),  completed  the  elementary  course  in  less  than  seven  years, 


PROGRESS  IN   THE   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS    ( WHITE).  19 


and  these  had  all  entered  the  high  school  by  September,  1913.  If  a 
child  enters  the  1A  grade  at  7,  normally  he  should  enter  the  high 
school  at  14  years.  All  of  these  6  children  are  at  the  ages  of  13  or  14. 
Therefore  these  children  are  accelerated  from  the  standpoint  of  age 
and  progress.  Two  of  them,  both  boys,  one  at  13  and  the  other  at  14, 
are  in  the  second  year  in  the  high  school,  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
have  been  able  to  skip  two  grades  in  the  elementary  school.  It 
should  be  noted,  too,  that  all  of  the  children  who  are  accelerated 
entered  the  high  school.  The  table  further  shows  that  50  children, 
or  7.97  per  cent,  completed  the  elementary  school  in  seven  years,  the 
normal  time.  Of  this  number,  which  consisted  of  20  boys  and  30 
girls,  all  but  2  entered  the  high  school.  Therefore  the  number  of 
children  of  the  1A  grade  of  September,  1906,  completing  the  elemen- 
tary grades  in  normal  or  less  than  normal  time  and  entering  the  high 
school  is  8.6  per  cent. 

TABLE  4. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  unfinished  group  (white).1 


Age. 

Sex. 

Grades,  September,  1913. 

Total. 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

7A 

7B 

13 

/Boys 

3 
4 
4 
3 
1 
1 

1 
1 
12 
3 

1 

2 
5 
12 
11 
6 
3 

2 
6 
4 
13 

4 
6 
9 
12 
5 

6 
8 
13 
12 
2 
4 

18 
31 
60 
56 
18 
9 
1 

14  

\Girls  
/Boys  
\Girls  
/Boys 

1 
1 

2 

1 
2 

1 
3 

15  
16  
17...... 

Total. 

1 
1 

\Girls     . 

/Boys 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys  

1 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys  
\Girls  

1 
1 

4 
1 

4 
2 

8 
8 

15 

4 

20 
19 

6 
19 

18 
18 

22 
24 

98 
96 

i  There  were  no  pupils  under  13  years  of  age  or  below  grade  3B. 

Table  4  shows  the  progress  made  by  those  children  who  were  still 
in  the  elementary  school  in  September,  1913.  It  is  read  as  follows: 
At  the  age  of  13  years  there  was  1  girl  who  was  in  the  4B  grade,  3 
boys  and  4  girls  in  5 A  grade,  1  boy  and  1  girl  in  the  5B,  etc.  There 
are  still  in  school  194  children,  or  30.94  per  cent,  distributed  all  the 
way  from  the  7B  grade  down  to  the  3B  grade.  All  of  these  children 
have  been  in  school  seven  years,  which  is  long  enough  to  have  com- 
pleted 14  terms'  work,  while  as  a  matter  of  fact— 

22  boys  and  24  girls  had  completed  13  terms. 
18  boys  and  18  girls  had  completed  12  terms. 
6  boys  and  19  girls  had  completed  11  terms. 
20  boys  and  19  girls  had  completed  10  terms. 
15  boys  and  9  girls  had  completed  9  terms. 
8  boys  and  8  girls  had  completed  8  terms. 
4  boys  and  2  girls  had  completed  7  terms. 
4  boys  and  1  girl  had  completed  6  terms. 
1  boy  and  1  girl  had  completed  5  terms. 


20 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


The  median  number  of  terms  made  by  these  194  children  is  9.8 
terms  for  the  boys  and  10.4  terms  for  the  girls,  while  the  median 
age  for  the  boys  is  13.5  years  and  for  the  girls  13.3  years. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  this  group  of  children  is  greatly  retarded, 
some  of  the  individuals  more  than  others.  Since  all  of  them  have 
been  in  school  seven  years,  which  is  long  enough  to  have  completed 
14  terms,  the  normal  number  of  terms  these  children  ought  to  have 
made  can  be  found  by  multiplying  the  normal  number,  14,  by  the 
number  of  individuals,  and  the  actual  number  of  terms  by  the  num- 
ber of  individuals;  so  that  22  boys  ought  to  have  made  22  times  14,  or 
308  terms,  while  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  actually  made  22  times  13, 
or  286  terms.  By  this  process  the  following  data  are  secured,  which 
show  the  number  of  terms  these  boys  and  girls  ought  to  have  made 
and  the  actual  number  of  terms  they  made  in  seven  years: 

Number  of  terms  nine  groups  of  boys  and  girls  should  have  made,  and  number  actually  made. 


Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

308 

286 

336 

312 

644 

598 

252- 

216 

252 

216 

504 

432 

86 

66 

266 

209 

352 

275 

280 

200 

266 

190 

546 

390 

210 

135 

126 

81 

336 

216 

112 

64 

112 

64 

224 

128 

56 

28 

28 

14 

84 

42 

56 

24 

14 

6 

70 

30 

14 

5 

14 

5 

28 

10 

1,374 

1,024 

1,414 

1,097 

2,788 

2,121 

By  dividing  the  actual  number  of  terms  made  by  the  normal 
number  of  terms,  the  following  percentages  are  obtained: 

The  boys  show  74.5  per  cent  normal  progress,  or  24.5  per  cent  retardation. 
The  girls  show  77.5  per  ce  vt  normal  progress,  or  22.5  per  cent  retardation. 
Boys  and  girls  show  76.8  per  cent  normal  progress,  or  23.2  per  cent  retardation. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  23.2  per  cent  of  retardation 
was  made  in  seven  years,  or  in  the  time  when  a  child  ought  to  have 
done  the  work  completely.  Some  of  these  children  have  repeated 
but  one  term,  others  have  repeated  as  many  as  nine  terms.  It  is 
safe  to  say,  then,  that  this  group  of  children  will  show  a  much  larger 
percentage  of  retardation  by  the  time  they  eventually  leave  the 
elementary  schools.  Nevertheless,  the  percentage  of  retardation 
made  by  these  194  children,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  was  no  com- 
pulsory attendance,  is  sufficient  to  show  that  some  children  do  persist 
in  their  desire  to  get  on  in  school,  and  furthermore,  that  there  are 
misfits. 


PROGRESS  IN   THE   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS    ( WHITE).  21 

TABLE  5. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  nonretarded  group — dropped  (white).1 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Grades  in  which  dropped. 

Total. 

1A 

IB 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 

Total 

/Boys 

3 

3 

1 
1 
2 
9 
6 
14 
9 
5 
5 
5 
10 
4 
4 
2 
7 
4 

\Girls 

1 

/Boys 

1 

\Girls 

1 
6 
3 
2 

1 
2 
2 
1 
2 

/Boys 

1 
1 
2 
1 

\Girls 

/Boys 

3 
2 

5 
4 
1 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys 

2 

1 

\Girls 

2 

2 

/Boys 

2 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

\Girls 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

3 
1 

1 

fBovs 

1 

1 

\Girls 

1 

1 

2 

/Boys 

1 
1 

1 

""2" 

\Girls 

1 

3 

/Boys 

1 

1 

1 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys 

1 

1 

\Girls 

17 

8 

4 

6 

4 
3 

5 
5 

6 

7 

1 

2 
2 

7 

2 
3 

3 
1 

3 

48 
44 

\Girls 

2 

i  There  were  no  pupils  over  15  years  of  age  or  in  grades  7A  and  7B. 
TABLE  6. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  retarded  group — dropped  (white) . 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Grades  in  which  dropped. 

Total. 

1A 
I 

IB 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

7A 

7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

Total 

/Boys 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys 

3 

5 
2 
3 

2 
1 
1 
1 

5 
3 
2 
1 
1 
3 
1 
3 
1 
1 

8 
9 
6 
10 
13 
17 
11 
15 
25 
19 
37 
22 
32 
34 
15 
7 
2 
2 

\Girls 

1 

/Boys 

2 
3 

5 

1 

""2" 
1 

\Girls            

1 
1 
3 
2 
1 
3 
2 
3 

2 
2 
6 
1 

•"4" 

3 
4 
3 
1 

/Boys 

2 
3 
2 
3 

7 
1 
4 
2 
2 
2 

\Girls  

/Boys... 

3 

4 
3 
2 
4 

""3" 

4 
2 
3 

1 

\Girls  

1 

/Boys 

3 
2 
4 
5 
5 
2 
2 
1 

3 
5 
8 
4 
2 
6 
3 

\Girls  

1 
2 
1 

11 
4 
1 

2 

2 

5 
6 
1 
5 
2 

/Boys 

1 

2 

\Girls 

1 
3 

5 
3 

""2" 
3 

/Boys.             

1 

1 

\Girls 

1 

2 

/Boys  

1 

1 

\GirJs 

I 

/Boys... 

1 

1 

\Girls.. 

1 

1 

/Boys... 

10 
11 

11 
11 

10 
9 

11 
8 

13 
15 

17 
11 

15 
13 

14 
11 

18 
16 

14 
8 

9 
13 

6 

6 

2 
3 

150 
135 

\Girls 

Tables  5  and  6  show  that  in  S^etember,  1906,  out  of  627  children 
who  were  in  the  1A  grade,  377,  or  60.13  per  cent,  had  already  left 
school  prior  to  September,  1913.  These  children  are  distributed 
according  to  their  grade  and  age  when  they  left  school.  Of  these 
377  children,  92,  or  24.4  per  cent  (14.7  per  cent  of  the  total  group), 
had  not  repeated  a  grade,  while  285,  or  75.6  per  cent  (45.6  per  cent 
of  the  total  group),  had  repeated  one  or  more  grades  before  they  left 


22 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


school.  But  it  would  be  unfair  to  any  school  system  to  hold  it  re- 
sponsible for  the  children  who  move  to  other  communities.  On 
Table  7  it  is  shown  that  97  children,  or  25.7  per  cent  of  these  377 
children  who  left  school,  moved  out  of  the  city.  These  97  children, 
or  15.5  per  cent  of  the  total  number  (627),  will  reduce  the  percentage 
of  children  leaving  school  for  causes  over  which  the  system  has  some 
control  from  60.13  per  cent  to  44.63  per  cent.  These  nonretarded 
children,  according  to  Table  5,  leave  school  anywhere  between  the 
1A  and  the  7 A  grades,  and  between  the  ages  of  6  and  15  years.  The 
median  ages,  however,  at  which  these  children  leave  school  are  8.7 
years  for  the  boys  and  9.8  years  for  the  girls.  The  low  median  ages 
seem  to  indicate  that,  when  children  have  become  accustomed  to  a 
school  and  are  making  progress,  parents  hesitate  &bout  changing 
them  to  other  systems. 

The  retarded  group,  however,  as  shown  in  Table  6,  indicates  clearly 
that  there  are  certain  grades  and  certain  ages  when  the  children 
leave  school.  The  median  age  at  which  the  boys  drop  out  is  12.3 
years,  and  at  which  the  girls  drop  out  is  11.8  years.  This  fact  is 
surprising.  If  leaving  school  is  caused  by  economic  reasons,  it 
would  naturally  be  expected  that  the  girls  would  have  a  higher 
median  age  for  leaving  school  than  the  boys.  That  there  are  more 
boys  leaving  the  3A,  3B,  4A,  4B,  and  5A  grades,  and  that  the  median 
age  is  near  that  when  boys  can  go  to  work  is  a  possible  indication 
that  these  children  make  an  effort  to  do  the  work  assigned  them  by 
the  schools;  but,  failing  in  this,  they  resort  to  some  other  activity 
outside  of  school.  This  fact  is  further  indicated  in  the  following 

data: 

Boys  and  girls  dropped  out  of  the  different  grades. 


Boys. 

Girls. 

Per 
cent. 

Number  dropped  out  of  — 
Grade  1A  

10 

11 

7  4 

IB    . 

11 

11 

7  7 

2A... 

10 

9 

6  7 

2B.  

11 

8 

6  7 

3A 

13 

15 

9  8 

3B... 

17 

11 

9  8 

4A  

15 

13 

9  8 

4B  

14 

11 

8.7 

5A... 

18 

16 

11  9 

SB... 

14 

g 

7  7 

6A  

9 

13 

7.7 

6B... 

6 

6 

4  3 

7A  

2 

3 

1.8 

In  Tables  5  and  6  it  was  shown  that  377  children,  or  60.13  per  cent 
of  the  total  number,  627,  had  left  school.  Manifestly  this  is  a  number 
far  too  great  not  to  be  profiting  by  a  scheme  of  education  which  has 
been  planned  for  them.  But  the  system  can  not  be  held  responsible 
for  all  of  these  children  leaving  school,  as  stated  above.  From  these 


PROGRESS  IN   THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    ( WHITE). 


377  children  who  left  the  Richmond  public  schools,  the  following  data, 
taken  from  Table  7,  are  secured: 

97,  or  25.7  per  cent,  moved  out  of  the  city. 

137,  or  45.9  per  cent,  are  employed  in  or  out  of  the  home  or  are  unemployed. 
45,  or  11.9  per  cent,  are  unknown. 

29,  or  7.7  per  cent,  left  the  public  schools  and  went  to  private  schools. 
23,  or  6.1  per  cent,  are  dead. 
6,  or  1.6  per  cent,  are  married. 

These  data  are  significant.  The  fact  that  25  per  cent  of  the  children 
who  were  dropped  left  the  system  for  other  communities  would  indi- 
cate the  presence  of  a  much  larger  transient  element  in  the  school 
population  enrolled  than  would  be  expected  in  a  city  where  there  is 
a  very  small  foreign  population,  and  where  it  is  generally  held  that 
most  of  the  school  children  will  make  their  homes  when  they  become 
adults. 
TABLE  7. — Showing  what  has  become  of  the  377  children  (white)  who  dropped  out  of  school. 


Sex. 

Total. 

Dead. 

Mar- 
ried. 

Moved 
from 
city. 

At 
work. 

At 
home. 

Un- 
known 

Out  of 
work. 

Pri- 
vate 
school. 

Pub- 
lic 
school. 

/Boys.     . 

150 

2 

29 

84 

11 

4 

13 

7 

Nonretarded 

\Girls.     . 
/Boys.     . 

135 

48 

2 

3 

29 
22 

52 
9 

13 

15 

10 

1 

10 
2 

13 
2 

\Girls.     . 

44 

3 

17 

8 

2 

9 

4 

1 

Total 

/Boys.     . 

198 

4 

51 

93 

21 

5 

15 

9 

\Girls.     . 

179 

6 

46 

60 

15 

24 

14 

14 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  377  children  did  not  remain 
in  school  seven  years.  It  is  quite  evident  that  to  this  number  of 
dropped  children  of  the  entering  group  will  eventually  be  added  a 
good  percentage  of  the  194  children  who  were  still  in  school  September, 
1913.  It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  a  child  who  had  been  in 
school  seven  years  and  had  made  only  five  terms,  or  was  retarded 
nine  terms,  would  remain  in  school  long  enough  to  complete  the 
elementary  grades.  Since  almost  45.9  per  cent  of  those  who  drop 
out  in  seven  years,  or  22  per  cent  of  the  total  entering  group,  go  to 
work,  it  would  seem  that  there  is  a  strong  demand  for  vocational 
training  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  workers  in  the  industries  of  this  city.1 
This  number  of  children  who  go  to  work  is  further  increased  by  those 
who  are  still  in  school  and  who  will  drop  out  before  they  complete 
the  elementary  school.  Retardation  and  dropping  out  go  hand  in 
hand;  88.5  per  cent  of  those  who  go  to  work  or  40.6  per  cent  of  those 
who  dropped  out  and  went  to  work  have  been  retarded,  while  only  11.5 
per  cent  of  those  who  go  to  work  or  5.3  per  cent  of  those  who  dropped 
out  and  went  to  work  are  not  retarded. 

It  is  evident,  too,  that  there  is  an  urgent  demand,  not  only  for  more 
accurate  methods  in  the  recording  of  a  child's  school  history,  but  also 

i  See,  in  this  connection,  the  report  of  the  Richmond  survey  by  the  National  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Industrial  Education. 


24  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

for  a  permanent  and  continuing  census,  if  11.9  per  cent  of  the  children 
who  drop  out,  or  7.2  per  cent  of  those  who  enter  (assuming  practically 
the  same  happenings  to  all  children  as  to  this  group),  can  leave  the 
schools  and  no  information  can  be  secured  of  their  whereabouts  other 
than  that  they  have  dropped  out  of  school.  The  number  of  children — 
7.7  per  cent  of  the  dropped  or  4.7  per  cent  of  the  entering  group — leav- 
ing the  public  school  and  entering  private  school  suggests  a  failure  to 
progress  as  desired  on  the  part  of  the  child  or  parent.  This  fact  is 
further  shown  in  the  6.1  per  cent  of  the  dropped  or  3.6  per  cent  of  the 
entering  group  who  leave  school  for  various  reasons  (such  as  failure 
to  get  on  with  the  work  of  the  grades,  dissatisfaction  with  the  teacher, 
and  the  like),  either  to  secure  private  instruction  or  not  to  attend 
school  at  all,  but  after  having  remained  out  for  several  years  return 
to  the  public  schools  as  new  pupils. 

There  can  be  no  question  about  the  fact  that  failure  to  progress  is 
a  cause  of  much  of  this  leaving  the  public  schools  for  other  schools. 
Of  the  29  children  who  entered  private  schools,  79.3  per  cent  were 
retarded  and  20.7  per  cent  were  not  retarded,  and  of  the  23  children 
who  left  the  public  schools  and  later  returned  as  new  pupils,  87  per 
cent  were  retarded  and  13  per  cent  were  not  retarded. 

It  is  evident  that  the  new  compulsory  school  law  will  affect  most  of 
these  cases  and  tend  to  reduce  the  dropping  below  a  certain  age,  at 
least  to  a  very  great  extent. 

SUMMARY. 

The  following  points  should  be  noted  in  connection  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  627  children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906: 

1.  Six  children,  or  less  than  1  per  cent  (0.96  per  cent),  completed  the  work  of  the 
elementary  schools  in  less  than  the  normal  time.    All  of  these  children  entered  the 
high  school. 

2.  Fifty  children,  or  7.9  per  cent,  completed  the  work  of  the  elementary  schools  in 
seven  years,  or  normal  time.     Of  these,  48  children,  or  96  per  cent,  entered  the  high 
school.     Therefore  the  total  number  of  children  from  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906, 
who  had  entered  the  high  school  within  the  normal  time  is  54,  or  8.6  per  cent. 

3.  One  hundred  and  ninety-four  children,  or  30.94  per  cent,  were  still  in  the  ele- 
mentary school  in  September,  1913.    The  median  number  of  terms  made  by  these 
children  was  9.8  for  the  boys  and  10.8  for  the  girls,  although  the  median  age  was  for 
the  boys  13.5  years  and  for  the  girls  13.3  years.     In  relation  to  normal  progress  these 
children  had  made  in  seven  years  only  76.8  per  cent. 

4.  Three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  children,  or  60.13  per  cent,  had  left  school.     Of 
this  number,  92  (24.4  per  cent  of  377),  or  14.7  per  cent  of  the  total  number,  had  made 
no  repetitions  before  they  left  school,  while  285  (75.6  per  cent  of  377),  or  45.6  per 
cent  of  the  total  number,  had  repeated  before  they  left. 

5.  Of  those  who  had  dropped  out  of  school,  it  was  found  that  25.7  per  cent  had  left 
the  city,  45.9  per  cent  had  gone  to  work,  7.7  per  cent  had  gone  to  private  schools,  11.9 
per  cent  were  unknown,  and  the  remainder  had  dropped  for  minor  reasons.     It  was 
further  shown  that  88.5  per  cent  of  those  who  go  to  work  had  repeated  grades  before 
they  left. 


CHAPTER  III. 
PROGRESS  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  (NEGRO). 


In  most  of  the  studies  that  have  been  made  concerning  the  progress 
of  children  through  the  schools,  colored  children  have  not  been 
separated  from  the  white  children;  or  if  they  were  separated,  they 
were  studied  under  identical  conditions  with  the  white  children. 
This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  most  of  these  studies  have  been  worked 
out  in  school  systems  where  provision  for  the  two  races  is  made  in 
the  same  school  building  under  identical  conditions,  and  not  sep- 
arated, as  in  the  city  of  Richmond  and  other  cities  throughout  the 
South. 

In  Richmond,  however,  there  has  been  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
school  authorities  to  make  the  instruction  for  colored  children  different 
from  that  for  white  children.  In  some  schools  for  colored  children 
considerable  emphasis  is  placed  on  manual  work,  which  consists  chiefly 
of  chair  caning,  basketry,  sewing,  cooking,  and  shop  work.  In  such 
subjects  as  geography  and  history,  and,  in  some  cases,  civics  and 
hygiene,  the  subject  matter  for  the  two  races  differs  widely.  This 
difference  in  subject  matter  becomes  even  more  prominent  in  the 
secondary  schools.  In  such  subjects  as  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
and  language  the  subject  matter  and  standards  for  the  children  of 
the  two  races  are  practically  the  same. 

If  the  547  Negro  children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  September, 
1906,  are  divided  according  to  their  progress,  the  following  distribu- 
tion into  groups  will  be  secured : 

Distribution  of  547  Negro  children  who  were  in  grade  1A  in  September,  1906. 


Groups. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

I   Finished  group  in  normal  time 

3 

14 

17 

II.  Unfinished  group     

53 

63 

116 

III.  Dropped  group  :* 
With  no  repetitions 

46 

63 

109 

With  repetitions                                                                       

172 

133 

305 

Total                                                                    

274 

273 

547 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  progress  made  by  the  children 
in  these  different  groups,  each  group  has  been  studied  separately 
and  in  the  order  mentioned  above. 


25 


26  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

TABLE  8. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  finished  group  (Negro). 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Finished  group  in- 

Normal  group. 

Normal 
time. 

Less  than 
normal. 

In  high 
school. 

Not  in 
high 
school. 

12 

/Boys  

13 

\Girls  

/B9ys  

1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
3 

1 

14 

\Girls  
/Boys  

5 

1 

15 

\Girls  
/Boys  

5 

1 
2 

16 

\Girls  

/B?ys  

1 

17 

\Girls  
/Bovs  

Total                                  

\Gifls  
/Boys  

1 

i 

3 

14 

1 

13 

2 
1 

\Girls  

Table  8  shows  that  out  of  a  group  of  547  colored  children  who 
entered  or  were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  not  any  were 
able  to  complete  the  course  in  less  than  seven  years,  and  only  17, 
or  3.1  per  cent,  had  finished  in  seven  years,  the  normal  time. 
Of  these  17  children,  14  were  girls  and  3  were  boys.  Of  the  total 
number  who  had  finished,  1  boy  and  13  girls,  or  82.3  per  cent,  en- 
tered the  high  school.  Two  boys  and  one  girl,  or  17.7  per  cent,  did 
not  enter  the  high  school.  Consequently,  only  2.6  per  cent  of  the 
children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  entered 
the  high  school  in  the  normal  time. 

TABLE  9. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  unfinished  group  (Negro). 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Grades,  September,  1913. 

Total. 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

7A 

7B 

12  
13  
14  
15  
16  
17  

Total. 

/Boys. 

1 

1 
3 
20 

16 
27 
28 
3 
15 
2 

\Girls  

1 

2 

/Boys  

2 
1 

2 

2 
2 
6 
6 

4 
1 

7 
6 

3 
3 
3 
4 

3 
4 
2 
2 

1 
3 
..... 

2 

3 
2 
3 
1 

\Girls  

/Boys  

1 

3 
1 
1 

2 
1 

\Girls  

/Boys  

\Girls 

2 

1 

2 

2 

4 

3 

2 

1 

/Boys  

\Girls 

1 

{Boys  

Girls    . 

/Boys  

1 

6 

2 

6 
2 

8 
10 

11 
12 

a 

5 
10 

3 
10 

7 
4 

53 
63 

\Girls 

2 

Table  9  gives  the  distribution  by  grades  and  by  ages  of  those  chil- 
dren who  were  in  school  September,  1913.  Of  the  547  children  who 
were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  only  116,  or  21.3  per  cent, 
were  still  in  the  elementary  school  September,  1913.  From  this  it 


PROGRESS  IN   THE   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS    ( NEGRO ). 


27 


is  seen  that  of  the  547  Negro  children  for  whom  the  school  system 
planned,  only  these  116  children  and  the  17  children  who  had  finished, 
or  24.4  per  cent,  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  for  as  long  a 
time  as  seven  years.  This  table  further  shows  that  the  children 
who  are  still  in  school  are  scattered  from  the  7B  down  to  the  3A 
grades.  All  of  them  had  been  in  school  seven  years,  which  was  the 
normal  time  to  complete  the  14  terms. 

7  boys  and    4  girls  had  completed  13  terms. 
3  boys  and  10  girls  had  completed  12  terms. 

5  boys  and  10  girls  had  completed  11  terms. 

6  boys  and  11  girls  had  completed  10  terms. 
11  boys  and  12  girls  had  completed    9  terms. 

8  boys  and  10  girls  had  completed    8  terms. 
6  boys  and    2  girls  had  completed    7  terms. 
6  boys  and    2  girls  had  completed    6  terms. 

2  girls  had  completed  5  terms. 
1  boy  had  completed  4  terms. 

The  median  number  of  terms  made  by  these  116  children  is  8.4  for 
the  boys  and  9.3  for  the  girls,  while  the  median  age  for  the  boys  is 
13.2  years,  and  for  the  girls  14.4  years. 

It  would  seem,  then,  from  these  median  ages  that  at  least  half  of 
these  children  have  remained  in  the  elementary  schools  as  long  as 
was  planned  for  them  normally,  but  they  fell  far  short  of  accomplish- 
ing what  was  planned  for  them. 

If  the  amount  of  actual  progress  is  estimated  in  relation  to  normal 
progress,  as  was  done  in  case  of  the  progress  made  by  the  unfinished 
group  of  white  children,  the  following  data  are  secured: 

Number  of  terms  nine  groups  of  boys  and  girls  should  have  made,  and  number  actually 

made. 


Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

Normal. 

Actual. 

98 

91 

56 

52 

154 

143 

42 

36 

140 

120 

182 

156 

70 

55 

140 

110 

210 

165 

84 

60 

154 

110 

238 

170 

154 

99 

168 

108 

322 

207 

112 

64 

140 

80 

252 

144 

84 

42 

28 

14 

112 

56 

84 

36 

28 

12 

112 

48 

28 

10 

28 

10 

14 

4 

14 

4 

742 

487 

882 

616 

1,624 

1,103 

The  boys  made  65.5  per  cent  normal  progress,  or  34.5  per  cent  retardation. 
The  girls  made  69.8  per  cent  normal  progress,  or  30.2  per  cent  retardation. 
Boys  and  girls  made  67.8  per  cent  normal  progress,  or  32.2  per  cent  retardation. 


28  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

TABLE  10. — Age,  grade,  and  progress,  table  of  nonretarded-dropped  group  (Negro). 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Grades  in  which  dropped. 

To- 
tal. 

1 
1 

4 
4 
9 
7 
6 
13 
8 
5 
3 
4 
5 
9 
6 
9 
2 
8 

1A 

IB 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

7A 

7B 

6  

{Boys  

1 

Girls 

1 

(Boys  

3 

1 

\Girls 

4 

fBoys... 

5 
5 
2 
4 

2 

3 

2 
2 
4 
1 

1 

8  

\Girls. 

Boys 

1 
4 
1 
1 

1 

9  
10  

Girls      .  . 

1 
..... 

Boys  

1 

2 

1 

Girls  
Boys 

3 
1 

2 

11  

Girls 

1 

1 
1 
3 
1 

2 
2 

/Boys 

1 

1 

12  

\Girls 

2 

1 

1 

2 



/Boys 

1 

1 

1 

1 

13  

\Girls 

2 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 



/Boys 

1 

1 
1 

14  

\Girls 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

/Boys 

15  

\Girls 

2 

1 

3 

1 

/Boys 

1 

16  

\Girls 

/Boys 

1 

1 

17  

Total. 

\Girls 

/Boys  

3 
2 

1 

..... 





46 
63 

14 
24 

9 
12 

6 
10 

1 
3 

6 
4 

3 

1 

1 

I 

\Girls 

5 

TABLE  11. — Age,  grade,  and  progress  of  retarded-dropped  group. 


Ages. 

Sex. 

Grades  hi  which  dropped. 

Total. 

1A 

IB 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

/Boys  
\Girls  

5 
3 

5 

10 
3 
11 
2 
16 
14 
18 
10 
29 
17 
39 
26 
31 
39 
8 
13 
7 
7 
3 
2 

8  
9  

fBoys  

2 

2 

4 

3 

10  
11  
12  
13  
14  
15  
16  
17  

Total. 

\Girls  
(Boys. 
\Girls. 
/Bovs. 
\Gifls. 
/Boys. 
Girls.     .. 
Boys.     .  . 
Girls 

2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

4 
4 
2 
1 
5 
1 
1 
1 

1 
2 
6 
1 
2 
2 
1 

5 
3 
3 
1 

8 

""e 

3 
2 
1 
2 

3 
2 
2 
4 
4 
4 
6 
3 
2 
6 
1 
1 

1 

1 

..... 

""•" 

6 
2 
6 
1 
3 
1 
2 

2 
1 

4 
5 
3 
4 

7 
8 

2 

2 
..... 

2 
6 

7 

2 
3 
3 

6 
2 
2 
2 
3 
1 

1 

1 

4 

1 

/Boys 

5 

2 
5 
1 

3 
1 
1 

...„ 
..... 

\Girls  

1 

\GirIs  

5 

1 

..... 

2 

/Boys  

1 

1 

1 
1 

\Girls 

1 

1 

/Boys.  .  . 

1 

1 

1 

\Girls  ..  . 

1 

1 

/Boys  
\Girls  

12 
9 

25 

7 

17 
6 

30 
9 

19 
20 

13 

18 

17 

24 

16 
12 

10 
15 

9 

7 

4 
3 

..„. 

172 
133 

Tables  10  and  11  show  that  the  remaining  414  children,  or  75.6 
per  cent  of  the  547  children  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  had 
left  school  prior  to  June,  1913.  Of  this  number  109  (26.3  per  cent  of 
the  414  children),  or  19.9  per  cent  of  the  total  group,  had  not  repeated 
a  grade,  while  305  (73.7  per  cent  of  414  children),  or  55.7  per  cent  of 
the  total  group,  had  repeated  one  or  more  grades  during  the  time 


PROGRESS  IN   THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    ( NEGRO ). 


29 


they  had  been  in  school.  In  Table  12  it  is  shown  that  78  children, 
or  18.8  per  cent  of  these  414  children  who  had  left  school,  had  moved 
out  of  the  city.  These  78  children ,  or  14.2  per  cent  of  the  total 
number,  will  reduce  the  percentage  of  children  leaving  school  from 
75.6  per  cent  to  61.4  per  cent. 

The  nonretarded  children  who  dropped  out  are  scattered  all  the 
way  from  the  1A  to  the  7A  grades,  inclusive.  A  large  number — 
comprising  44.9  per  cent  of  this  nonretarded  group — leave  in  the  first 
year.  This  large  percentage  of  dropping  out  in  the  1A  grade  can 
be  partly  explained  by  the  number  of  children  who  move  out  of  the 
city,  which  is  slightly  larger  in  the  first  year  than  in  any  other,  and 
by  the  number  of  children  who  enter  school  and  remain  a  few  weeks  or 
months  and  then  leave  on  account  of  economic  conditions,  ill  health, 
and  the  like.  Furthermore,  there  seems  to  be  no  one  age  more  than 
another  at  which  these  children  leave  school.  They  are  scattered 
from  the  age  of  7  to  the  age  of  15. 

The  retarded  children  show  more  dropping  out  in  certain  grades 
than  in  others.  This  is  apparent  from  the  following  figures: 

Number  of  retarded  children  dropping  out. 


Boys. 

Girls. 

Per  cent. 

Number  dropped  out  of— 
Grade  1*1                                                         

12 

9 

6  9 

IB                                                                

25 

7 

10.5 

2A                                                          

17 

6 

7  5 

2B                                                                                         .... 

30 

9 

12  8 

3A                                                        

19 

20 

12  8 

3B                                                                          

13 

18 

10  2 

4A                                              

17 

24 

13.4 

4B                                                                 

16 

12 

9  2 

5A                      

10 

15 

8.2 

SB                                                       

9 

7 

5  2 

6A              

4 

3 

2.3 

6B                                    

3 

1.0 

If  a  child  is  credited  with  having  made  the  grade  from  which  it 
dropped,  then  the  median  number  of  terms  made  by  these  305  chil- 
dren is  4  terms  for  the  boys  and  5.8  terms  for  the  girls. 

Instead  of  these  retarded  children  dropping  out  evenly  from  the 
age  of  7  years  to  the  age  of  15,  as  was  the  case  with  the  nonretarded 
children  who  dropped  out,  there  is  a  tendency  for  them  to  group 
themselves  around  the  age  of  12  and  13  years.  The  median  ages  at 
which  boys  and  girls  of  this  group  drop  out  are  12  years  and  12.8 
years,  respectively. 

From  these  figures  it  is  seen  that  at  least  one-half  of  the  boys  and 
girls  remain  in  school  until  they  are  12  or  more  years  of  age,  which  is 
the  age  at  which  they  should  be  finishing  the  6B  grade  or  12  terms 
in  school,  while,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  as  many  boys  who  com- 
pleted less  than  4  terms  as  completed  more  and  as  many  girls  who 
completed  less  than  5.8  terms  as  completed  more. 


30  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

TABLE  12. — Showing  what  became  of  the  414  children  who  dropped  out  of  school  (Negro). 


Sex. 

Total. 

Dead. 

Mar- 
ried. 

Moved 
from 
city. 

At 
work. 

At 
lome. 

Un- 
known. 

Out 
of 
work. 

Private 
school. 

Public 
school. 

Retarded 

fBoys. 

172 

3 

31 

105 

1 

27 

4 

1 

\Girls. 
/Boys. 

133 
46 

1 

2 

2 

17 

7 

66 
23 

19 

21 
13 

2 
1 

3 

2 

\Girls. 

63 

2 

23 

11 

5 

14 

1 

7 

Total 

/Boys. 

218 

5 

38 

128 

1 

40 

5 

1 

\Girls. 

196 

3 

-   2 

40 

77 

24 

35 

2 

4 

9 

Since  414  children,  or  75.6  per  cent  of  those  who  were  in  the  1A 
grade  in  September,  1906,  had  dropped  out  of  school  before  the  expi- 
ration of  seven  years,  the  question  is  even  more  pertinent  here  than 
in  connection  with  the  white  children,  What  has  become  of  these 
children?  Table  12  gives  the  following  information  in  connection 
with  these  children: 

78,  or  18.7  per  cent,  moved  out  of  the  city. 

237,  or  57.3  per  cent,  are  employed  in  or  out  of  the  home  or  are  unemployed. 
75,  or  18.1  per  cent,  are  unknown. 

4,  or    1.0  per  cent,  went  to  private  schools. 
10,  or   2.4  per  cent,  left  public  school  and  later  returned  as  new  pupils. 

8,  or   2.0  per  cent,  are  dead. 

2,  or   0.5  per  cent,  are  married. 

From  an  analysis  of  the  above  percentages  it  is  evident  that  the 
necessity  to  go  to  work  is  a  very  large  factor  in  causing  the  Negro 
children  to  leave  school;  practically  57.3  per  cent  of  those  who  drop 
out  go  to  work.  Only  a  few  children  are  unemployed.  The  small 
number  of  children  leaving  to  go  to  private  schools,  or  leaving  and 
later  returning  as  new  pupils,  indicates  a  small  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  Negro  children  to  secure  an  education  if  they  do  not  succeed  in 
securing  it  in  the  public  schools.  This  situation  is  no  doubt  due,  in 
a  very  large  measure,  to  the  limited  resources  of  the  Negro  families. 
Furthermore,  retardation  accompanies  dropping  out.  Of  the  num- 
ber of  children  who  leave  to  go  to  work,  83.1  per  cent,  or  47.6 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  children  who  drop  out,  are  retarded, 
while  16.9  per  cent  of  the  same  number,  or  9.7  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  who  drop  out,  are  not  retarded. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  further,  that  only  18.7  per  cent  of  the 
Negro  children  who  drop  out  of  school  leave  the  city.  The  percent- 
age of  colored  children  leaving  school  concerning  whom  no  information 
is  available  argues  even  more  strongly  than  in  the  case  of  the  white 
children  for  more  accurate  recording  of  childrens'  school  histories  and 
a  permanent  and  continuing  school  census. 


PROGRESS  IN    THE   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS    ( NEGRO ).  31 

SUMMARY. 

The  following  points  stand  out  in  the  progress  of  the  547  Negro 
children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906: 

1.  No  children  completed  the  course  in  the  elementary  schools  in  less  than  normal 
time. 

2.  Seventeen  children,  or  3.1  per  cent,  completed  the  elementary  schools  in  nor- 
mal time.     Of  this  number,  14  children,  or  82.3  per  cent,  entered  the  high  school. 
Therefore  2.5  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  children  from  the  1A  grade  entered 
the  high  school  within  the  normal  time. 

3.  One  hundred  and  sixteen  children,  or  21.3  per  cent,  were  still  in  the  elementary 
school  in  September,  1913.    The  median  number  of  terms  made  was  8.4  terms  for  the 
boys  and  9.3  terms  for  the  girls,  although  the  median  age  for  the  boys  was  13.2  years 
and  for  the  girls  14.4  years.     In  relation  to  normal  progress  these  children  had  made 
in  7  years  only  67.8  per  cent. 

4.  Four  hundred  and  fourteen  children,  or  75.6  per  cent,  had  left  school.    Of  this 
number,  109  (26.3  per  cent  of  414  children),  or  19.9  per  cent  of  the  total  group,  had  not 
repeated  a  grade,  while  305  (73.7  per  cent  of  414  children),  or  55.7  per  cent  of  the 
total  group,  had  repeated  one  or  more  grades. 

5.  Of  those  who  dropped  out,  18.7  per  cent  had  moved  out  of  the  city,  57.3  per 
cent  had  gone  to  work,  18.1  per  cent  were  unknown,  and  the  remainder  had  dropped 
for  minor  causes.     It  was  further  shown  that  of  those  who  had  gone  to  work  83.1  per 
cent  had  repeated  before  they  left. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
ACCELERATION  AND  RETARDATION  BY  GRADES  AND  AGES. 


One  of  the  questions  which  is  raised  in  connection  with  childre 
who  have  skipped  a  grade  or  more,  or  who  have  been  retarded  a 
grade  or  more,  is  whether  this  acceleration  or  retardation  occurs 
most  frequently  at  certain  ages  and  at  certain  grades.  From  the 
studies  which  have  been  made  relating  to  this  problem  it  has  been 
pointed  out  very  clearly  that  children  are  retarded  at  certain  ages 
and  in  certain  grades.  This  information  seems  to  be  in  keeping 
with  the  complaint  often  heard  from  teachers,  pupils,  and  parents 
alike  that  the  work  in  certain  grades  gives  the  children  special 
trouble.  Teachers  often  complain  that  certain  grades  receive  many 
failures  in  spite  of  every  effort  on  their  part  to  secure  a  good  per- 
centage of  promotion.  It  is  the  object  of  the  data  presented  in 
this  chapter  to  determine  the  extent  to  which  this  tendency  exists 
in  the  public  schools  of  Richmond,  so  far  as  this  group  of  children 
is  concerned. 

TABLE  13. — Acceleration  by  grades  and  ages  (white  children). 


Terms. 

Sex. 

Chil- 
dren. 

Acceleration  by  grades. 

Acceleration  by  ages. 

Acceler- 
ations. 

Total. 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

5A 

SB 

6A 

6B 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

Total. 

/Boys.  .  . 

3 
2 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

3 
2 
2 

\Girls  

1 

1 

1 

1 

/Boys  
\Girls  

1 

1 

1 

1 

Total.. 

/Boys.... 
\Girls.. 

j 

4 

2 

"i" 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 

2 

5 
2 

1 

1 

ACCELERATION  ( WHITE  PUPILS ). 

Since  there  were  but  6  children,  or  less  than  1  per  cent  (0.96  per 
cent)  of  the  total  number,  627,  in  the  lA  grade  in  September,  1906, 
who  succeeded  in  skipping  a  grade,  the  problem  of  acceleration  is 
so  small  that  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  from  Table  13,  which  dis- 
tributes these  children  by  grades  and  ages,  any  general  tendency  as 
to  where  and  when  children  skip. 

These  6  children  succeeded  in  skipping  seven  terms,  which  are 
scattered  from  the  2B  grade  to  the  6B  grade  and  from  age  9  to  age 
13,  inclusive. 


ACCELERATION   AND  RETARDATION. 


33 


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34  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

RETARDATION  (WHITE  PUPILS ). 


con- 


It  was  shown  in  Chapter  III  that  the  unfinished  group,  which 
sis  ted  of  194  children,  had  made  only  76.8  per  cent  of  normal  progress 
in  seven  years.  Table  14  shows  the  grades  and  ages  where  this  re- 
tardation took  place,  as  well  as  the  number  of  times  certain  indi- 
viduals were  retarded.  It  is  read  as  follows:  Twenty-five  boys  and 
24  girls  were  each  retarded  one  term,  and  therefore  made  a  total  of 
49  retardations;  of  this  number  the  1A  grade  received  6  from  the 
boys  and  2  from  the  girls;  IB  grade  received  0;  2 A  grade  received 
2  from  the  boys  and  3  from  the  girls,  etc.,  while  age  7  received  2 
retardations  from  the  boys  and  0  from  the  girls;  age  8  received  3 
retardations  from  the  boys  and  2  retardations  from  the  girls,  etc. 
These  194  children  made  in  the  seven  years  in  which  they  were  in 
school  611  retardations. 

Number  of  retardations  received  at  different  ages. 


Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

7.. 

23 

3.7 

12 

83 

13  6 

g 

69 

11  3 

13 

95 

15  5 

9 

91 

14.9 

14 

66 

10  8 

10 

92 

15  1 

15 

12 

2  o 

11 

79 

12.9 

16 

1 

2 

Manifestly,  then,  in  this  group  of  children  the  chances  for  failure 
are  almost  as  great  at  one  age  as  at  another  between  8  years  and 
14  years.  The  chances  for  failure  are  slightly  greater,  however,  at 
the  ages  of  9,  10,  and  13  years. 

Number  of  retardations  received  in  certain  grades. 


Grades. 

Retarda- 
tion. 

Per  cent. 

Grades. 

Retarda- 
tion. 

Per  cent. 

1A 

77 

12.6 

4B... 

47 

7  7 

IB 

52 

8.5 

5A 

43 

7  0 

2  A           

55 

9.2 

5B  

40 

6  5 

2B 

65 

10.7 

6A 

32 

5  2 

3A 

60 

9.8 

6B 

16 

2  6 

3B 

53 

8.7 

7A  

9 

1  5 

4A 

59 

9.7 

7B 

2 

3 

These  percentages  of  retardation  can  not  be  taken  to  indicate  the 
relative  difficulty  of  the  several  grades  to  the  child,  especially  after 
he  has  passed  the  4A  grade.  The  diminishing  percentages  for  grades 
4B  to  7B,  inclusive,  are  due  principally  to  the  fact  that  fewer  chil- 
dren of  this  group  have  reached  the  grades  from  the  4B  grade  up 
than  attained  the  grades  below  the  4B.  Therefore  there  are  fewer 
chances  for  retardations  to  occur  in  these  grades. 


ACCELERATION  AND  RETARDATION. 


35 


However,  since  all  but  7  of  the  194  children  in  this  group  had  passed 
through  the  4A  grade,  the  high  percentage  in  the  1A  grade  indicates 
the  difficulty  which  children  have  in  the  early  years  of  their  school 
life  in  adjusting  themselves  to  school  conditions.  Moreover,  some  of 
this  retardation  in  this  grade  is,  no  doubt,  due  to  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  children  who  are  of  very  low  mentality  never  get  beyond  it. 

That  the  children  in  the  public  schools  of  Richmond  do  encounter 
difficulty  in  the  1A  grade  and  that  the  higher  grades  present  as  much 
and  even  more  difficulty  than  the  lower  grades,  especially  since  only 
a  selected  group  reach  these  grades,  is  shown  from  the  folio  wing -table: 

TABLE  14  A . — Percentages  of  promotion  by  grades  from  1911  to  1914- 


Grades. 

Febru- 
ary, 1911. 

June. 
1911. 

Febru- 
ary, 1912. 

June, 
1912. 

Febru- 
ary, 1913. 

June, 
1913. 

Febru- 
ary, 1914. 

June, 
1914. 

1A 

78.7 

79.4 

71.7 

80.6 

73.8 

76.8 

81.4 

80.5 

IB 

82.4 

85.2 

83.5 

89.0 

82.1 

88.0 

85.7 

87.1 

2A                   

82.5 

83.0 

85.1 

80.8 

81.9 

82.9 

85.8 

83.3 

2B 

80.9 

85.0 

83.1 

83.5 

81.7 

84.2 

81.8 

85.1 

3A                 

80.4 

75.4 

79.8 

80.1 

82.0 

81.0 

81.4 

82.8 

3B 

77.6 

81.2 

81.4 

82.6 

79.8 

84.4 

82.2 

84.8 

4A  

73.9 

79.0 

81.6 

79.5 

81.3 

80.1 

77.8 

80.3 

4B 

75.8 

80.3 

77.6 

80.9 

80.7 

78.2 

79.8 

82.0 

5A  

75.9 

81.5 

75.5 

77.8 

75.7 

76.5 

78.1 

77.9 

SB 

72.4 

71.2 

74.8 

76.0 

77.3 

79.7 

81.3 

81.5 

6A  

74.3 

74.1 

74.3 

73.4 

78.6 

77.7 

80.5 

82.1 

6B 

69.6 

73.6 

72.0 

76.4 

74.4 

77.9 

80.4 

84.4 

7A... 

70.3 

72.2 

75.5 

72.1 

76.9 

78.7 

77.0 

81.6 

7B  

77.8 

80.2 

81.1 

86.4 

84.8 

88.0 

86.5 

88.8 

From  these  percentages  it  seems  that  grades  1A  and  4A  to  7A, 
inclusive,  are  the  most  difficult,  and  grades  IB  to  3B,  inclusive,  and 
7B  are  the  least  difficult. 

It  is  surprising  that  some  of  these  children  had  repeated  as  many 
as  8  terms  in  7  years  and  were  still  in  school.  From  an  analysis  of 
the  number  of  times  the  different  individuals  in  this  group  repeated 
it  is  found  that — 


49,  or  25.3  per  cent, 

34,  or  17.5  per  cent, 

33,  or  17.0  per  cent, 

29,  or  15.0  per  cent, 

26,  or  13.4  per  cent, 

14,  or    7.2  per  cent, 

7,  or    3.6  per  cent, 

2,  or    1.0  per  cent, 


had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 
had  repeated 


1  term. 

2  terms. 

3  terms. 

4  terms. 

5  terms. 

6  terms. 

7  terms. 

8  terms. 


The  median  number  of  terms  of  retardation  for  the  boys  is  2.9  and 
for  the  girls  is  2.2.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  many  of  the  children  of 
the  group  who  were  still  in  school  September,  1913,  had  remained 
there  in  spite  of  frequent  failures  to  be  promoted. 

Table  15  gives  some  information  concerning  the  retardation  made 
by  the  285  children  who  had  left  school.  These  285  children  had 
made  873  retardations. 


36 


PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


I 


ACCELERATION   AND  RETARDATION. 

Distribution  of  873  retardations  by  ages. 


37 


Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

7.. 

20 

2  3 

13 

100 

g 

120 

13  7 

14 

9  

144 

16  5 

15 

20 

9  ^ 

10         

159 

18  2 

16 

2 

11  

126 

14  4 

17 

12  

124 

14  4 

In  this  group  of  children  it  would  seem  that  the  ages  9,  10,  11,  and 
12  are  the  ages  when  a  child's  chances  for  failure  are  relatively  high, 
since  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  children  of  this  group  remained 
in  school  until  they  were  12  years  old.  (See  Table  6.)  The  rapid 
falling  off  at  14  would  indicate  that  children  become  discouraged 
and  leave  school  for  work,  or  are  compelled  to  go  to  work  as  soon  as 
they  are  old  enough. 

In  this  group  there  is  even  greater  variation  of  retardation  than 
with  the  unfinished  group.  Some  of  these  children  made  as  high  as 
9  repetitions  in  7  years.  Of  these  285  children— 

71,  or  24.9  per  cent,  repeated  1  term. 
66,  or  23.1  per  cent,  repeated  2  terms. 
41,  or  14.4  per  cent,  repeated  3  terms. 
47,  or  16.5  per  cent,  repeated  4  terms. 
28,  or  9.8  per  cent,  repeated  5  terms. 
14,  or  4.9  per  cent,  repeated  6  terms. 
11,  or  3.9  per  cent,  repeated  7  terms. 

5,  or    1.8  per  cent,  repeated  8  terms. 

2,  or      .7  per  cent  repeated  9  terms. 

The  median  number  for  the  boys  is  2.5,  and  for  the  girls  1.8.  It 
would  seem  then  that  most  of  the  children  did  not  give  up  and  leave 
school  without  an  effort  to  regain  the  position  which  they  had  lost 
through  failure  to  be  promoted,  or  without  trying  at  least  to  avoid 
another  failure.  The  tendency  to  remain  in  school  in  spite  of  failure 
is  stronger,  however,  with  girls  than  with  boys. 

Distribution  of  873  retardations  by  grades. 


Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

1A  

173 

19.8 

4A 

71 

8.1 

IB 

163 

18  7 

4B 

41 

4  7 

2A... 

113 

12.9 

5A 

32 

3.8 

2B. 

85 

9.7 

5B 

23 

2.6 

3A... 

93 

10.6 

6A 

13 

1.5 

3B.. 

63 

7.2 

6B 

3 

.4 

In  this  group  the  retardations  are  most  frequent  in  grades  1 A  to  3A, 
inclusive.  These  high  percentages  of  retardation  in  the  lower  grades 
and  low  percentages  in  the  higher  grades  are  caused  by  the  fact  that 
the  children  who  are  compelled  to  repeat  become  discouraged  and 
leave  school.  Consequently,  only  a  few  children  ever  attain  the 
higher  grades.  They  are  not  in  school  to  be  retarded. 


38 


PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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ACCELERATION  AND  RETARDATION. 


39 


RETARDATION  (COLORED   PUPILS.) 

That  the  Negro  children  do  persist  in  their  efforts  to  make  progress 
and  do  stay  in  school  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  are  compelled  to 
repeat  a  grade  from  tune  to  time  is  shown  from  the  data  in  Table  16, 
which  give  the  retardation  by  grades  and  ages  of  the  group  of  chil- 
dren numbering  116  that  were  still  in  school  September,  1913.  This 
group  of  children  had  in  seven  years  made  487  retardations,  which 
show  the  following  distribution  by  ages: 

Distribution  of  487  retardations  by  ages. 


Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

6 

1 

0.2 

12 

70 

14.4 

7 

11 

2.2 

13 

74 

15  2 

8                          

49 

10.0 

14 

66 

13.6 

9 

57 

11.7 

15 

17 

3  5 

10 

70 

14.4 

16          ... 

2 

.4 

11 

70 

14.4 

It  is  significant  that  the  percentage  of  retardation  gradually  in- 
creases from  10  per  cent  at  the  age  of  8  years  to  15.2  per  cent  at  the 
age  of  13  years,  and  drops  off  to  13.6  per  cent  at  the  age  of  14  years. 
The  ages  of  10,  11,  12,  13,  and  14  receive  higher  percentages  of  re- 
tardation than  any  other  ages  between  7  years  and  14  years.  The 
fact  that  this  group  of  children  shows  its  highest  percentage  of 
retardation  at  the  age  of  13  years  indicates  a  strong  effort  on  the 
part  of  these  children  to  remain  in  school  and  to  secure  an'  education 
in  spite  of  failure. 

When  these  same  487  retardations  made  by  the  116  children  who 
were  still  in  school  September,  1913,  are  arranged  by  grades,  the 
following  distribution  is  obtained: 

Distribution  of  487  retardations,  by  grades. 


Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

1A 

47 

9.6 

4B 

45 

9.2 

IB  

60 

12.3 

5A  

28 

5.8 

2A 

37 

7.6 

5B 

28 

5.8 

2B  

47 

9.7 

6A... 

23 

4.7 

3A 

63 

12.9 

6B 

8 

1.6 

3B 

47 

9.7 

7A 

4 

.8 

4A...                                    .   .. 

48 

9.9 

7B        ,  .. 

2 

.4 

With  the  exception  of  the  IB  and  3 A  grades,  these  retardations  are 
evenly  distributed  from  the  1A  to  the  4B  grades,  inclusive.  Begin- 
ning with  the  5A  grade  the  percentage  of  retardation  gradually 
decreases. 

When  the  fact  that  fewer  children  have  reached  these  higher  grades 
is  taken  into  consideration,  it  would  seem  that  one  grade  presents 


40 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


about  the  same  difficulty  to  the  Negro  child  as  another.    This  con 
elusion  seems  to  be  supported  also  by  the  percentages  of  promotion 
in  the  Negro  schools  during  the  past  four  years,  as  shown  in  the 
following  table: 

TABLE  16  A. —Percentages  of  promotion  by  grades  from  1911  to  1914. 


Grades. 

Febru- 
ary, 1911. 

June, 
1911. 

Febru- 
ary, 1912. 

June, 
1912. 

Febru- 
ary, 1913. 

June, 
1913. 

Febru- 
ary, 1914. 

June, 
1914. 

1A    . 

69.3 

68.2 

66.7 

72.4 

61.1 

71.3 

67.9 

74.1 

IB 

65.9 

78.6 

67.2 

75.7 

71.3 

77.0 

74.6 

80.6 

2A  

64.4 

72.7 

69.0 

74.8 

74.8 

73.8 

71.1 

77.8 

2B                     .....  . 

69.7 

72.6 

70.3 

75.1 

66.7 

75.0 

72.5 

76.1 

3A 

70.9 

72.4 

72.3 

74.0 

74.0 

77.6 

77.6 

79.8 

3B       

68.5 

69.6 

70.4 

72.7 

65.6 

71.0 

76.3 

80.1 

4A 

70.3 

67.9 

73.3 

74.6 

69.2 

70.1 

74.0 

72.4 

4B     

73.0 

68.5 

73.6 

74.0 

72.2 

75.8 

80.0 

78.6 

5A 

68.0 

68.1 

69.6 

70.4 

64.5 

72.9 

77.1 

75.8 

5B  

68.0 

68.3 

70.4 

71.4 

73.4 

69.0 

73.4 

74.5 

6A                     

60.9 

62.4 

70.3 

66.6 

68.1 

68.1 

71.4 

68.7 

6B 

70.8 

70.4 

73.7 

73.3 

70.0 

79.8 

76.4 

73.0 

7A              

71.2 

75.4 

68.6 

76.4 

75.0 

75.0 

77.1 

72.7 

4B 

67.7 

66.2 

75.0 

81.4 

71.4 

76.1 

82.1 

74.5 

- 

When  an  analysis  is  made  of  the  number  of  repetitions  by  the 
individual  children  in  this  group,  there  is  seen  in  the  data  below  the 
same  effort  to  make  progress  in  spite  of  frequent  failure.  Of  these 
116  children — 


11,  or  9.  5  per  cent,  had  repeated  1  term. 
16,  or  13.  8  per  cent,  had  repeated  2  terms. 
18,  or  15.  5  per  cent,  had  repeated  3  terms. 
21,  or  18. 1  per  cent,  had  repeated  4  terms. 
18,  or  15.  5  per  cent,  had  repeated  5  terms. 
14,  or  12. 1  per  cent,  had  repeated  6  terms. 
13,  or  11.  2  per  cent,  had  repeated  7  terms. 

4,  or   3.  4  per  cent,  had  repeated  8  terms. 

1,  or     .9  per  cent,  had  repeated  9  terms. 


The  median  number  of  repetitions  for  the  boys  is  4.2  terms  and  for 
the  girls  3.2  terms,  or  3.6  terms  for  the  boys  and  girls  together. 
Therefore,  at  least  half  of  these  116  children  have  made  as  many  as 
3.6  terms  or  more  of  repetitions  in  7  years.  Furthermore,  80.9  per 
cjent  of  these  487  repetitions  were  in  and  below  the  4B  grade,  although 
the  age  which  received  the  highest  percentage  of  repetition  was  13 
years,  the  age  at  which  a  child  ought  normally  to  be  in  the  seventh 
year. 


ACCELERATION  AND  RETARDATION. 


41 


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42 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


The  same  information  concerning  retardation  is  shown  for  the 
group  of  children  who  dropped  out  prior  to  September,  1913,  as  was 
shown  for  those  who  were  still  in  school  at  that  time.  Table  17 
gives  the  ages  and  grades  where  this  retardation  took  place. 

The  305  children  who  had  dropped  out  of  school  had  made  957 
retardations,  which  show  the  following  distribution  by  ages: 

Distribution  of  957  retardations,  by  ages. 


Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Ages. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

7 

17 

1.7 

13  

122 

12.8 

g 

74 

7.7 

14 

91 

9.5 

9 

133 

13.9 

15  

35 

3.7 

10 

158 

16.5 

16 

9 

.9 

11 

167 

17.5 

17  

3 

.3 

12  

148 

15.5 

Here  again  the  retardations  are  found  extending  over  a  number 
of  years,  but  there  is  a  piling  up  at  the  ages  of  9,  10,  11,  12,  and  13. 
The  ages  of  10,  11,  and  12,  however,  receive  the  largest  amount  of 
this  retardation. 

Distribution  of  957  retardations,  by  grades. 


Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

Grades. 

Retarda- 
tions. 

Per  cent. 

1A  .. 

175 

18.3 

4A... 

64 

6.7 

IB 

180 

18.8 

4B 

37 

3.8 

2A 

147 

15.4 

5A 

20 

2  1 

2B 

118 

12.3 

5B  .     .. 

11 

1.2 

3A 

117 

12.2 

6A 

2 

2 

3B 

83 

8.7 

6B..     . 

3 

.3 

Evidently  there  are  a  great  many  children  who  repeat  frequently 
and  never  get  above  the  3A  grade.  Failure  to  progress  and  leaving 
school  at  an  early  age  are  evidently  the  causes  of  the  high  percent- 
ages of  retardation  in  grades  lA  to  3 A  and  of  the  low  percentages  of 
retardation  in  grades  3B  to  6B.  It  would  seem,  too,  that  there  is 
a  direct  connection  between  the  large  number  of  repetitions  in 
grades  lA,  IB,  2 A,  2B,  and  3 A  and  the  large  number  of  repetitions 
at  the  ages  of  9,  10,  11,  and  12  years. 

Of  these  305  children  who  had  repeated  terms  before  they  dropped 

out — 

75,  or  26.4  per  cent,  had  repeated  1  term. 
62,  or  20.3  per  cent,  had  repeated  2  terms. 
61,  or  20.0  per  cent,  had  repeated  3  terms. 
37,  or  12.1  per  cent,  had  repeated  4  terms. 
22,  or  7.2  per  cent,  had  repeated  5  terms. 
28,  or  9.2  per  cent,  had  repeated  6  terms. 
12,  or  4.0  per  cent,  had  repeated  7  terms. 

7,  or   2.3  per  cent,  had  repeated  8  terms. 

1,  or   0.3  per  cent,  had  repeated  9  terms. 


ACCELERATION  AND  RETARDATION.  43 

The  median  number  of  terms  repeated  by  the  boys  is  2.3  terms 
and  for  the  girls  2.2  terms,  or  2.2  terms  for  the  boys  and  girls  together. 
Furthermore,  this  group  of  children  does  not  show  such  a  strong 
effort  to  progress  in  school  as  the  group  which  was  still  in  school 
September,  1913.  The  highest  percentage  of  retardation  comes 
earlier — at  the  age  of  11,  instead  of  13,  and  77  per  cent  of  these 
repetitions  are  in  or  below  the  3A  grade. 

SUMMARY. 

The  following  points  seem  worthy  of  note : 

1.  The  small  number  of  white  children  who  skipped  grades  is  insufficient  to  indi- 
cate any  age  or  grade  at  which  children  are  accelerated. 

2.  The  ages  at  which  retardation  is  relatively  high  are  9,  10,  11,  and  12  for  the 
white  children,  and  10,  11,  12,  and  13  for  the  Negro  children. 

3.  In  general,  the  higher  grades  present  as  much  retardation  as  the  lower  grades. 
Exception  is  found,  however,  in  the  1A  grade. 

4.  In  general,  the  median  number  of  repetitions  made  by  the  white  children  is 
two  terms,  and  by  the  Negro  children  it  is  from  two  to  four  terms. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ABSENCE  AND  ENTRANCE  AGE  IN  RELATION  TO  PROGRESS  THROUGH 

SCHOOL. 


ABSENCE   AND   PROGRESS   THROUGH    SCHOOL. 

One  of  the  complaints  heard  most  frequently  from  teachers  in 
school  systems  where  there  has  been  no  compulsory  school  law  is 
that  absence  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  causing  poor  progress  on 
the  part  of  the  school  children.  This  complaint  has  frequently  been 
heard  in  Richmond.  Since  there  was  no  authority  by  which  chil- 
dren could  be  compelled  to  attend  and  parents  compelled  to  do 
then*  part  to  keep  their  children  in  school,  the  question  of  absence  has 
been  so  serious  that  much  of  the  time  and  the  energy  of  the  teacher 
and  school  administrator  have  been  taken  up  with  it.  Teachers  were 
obliged  to  do  a  great  deal  of  visiting.  Report  blanks  of  various 
kinds  and  other  devices  had  to  be  used  to  secure  the  cooperation  of 
the  parents,  but,  in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  attendance  has  not 
been  what  it  should  be,  and  failure,  due  to  absence,  has  been  more 
pronounced. 

The  present  section  comprises  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  extent 
to  which  absence  has  caused  children  to  fail  of  promotion.  The 
method  of  procedure  consisted  of  scoring  from  the  record  cards  the 
number  of  days  absent  in  each  term,  or  four  and  a  half  months, 
which  every  one  of  the  627  white  children  and  the  547  Negro  children 
who  were  in  the  1A  grade  in  September,  1906,  made  during  the  time 
they  were  in  school.  Units  of  10  days  were  used,  which  gave  the  fol- 
lowing classification:  0  to  9  days  absent,  10  to  19  days  absent,  20 
to  29  days  absent,  30  to  39  days  absent,  40  to  49  days  absent,  and 
50  and  more  days  absent.  There  are,  on  an  average,  90  days  to  a 
school  term.  The  data  regarding  attendance  are  tabulated  separately 
for  the  following  groups:  The  accelerated,  the  normal,  the  dropped 
retarded  and  nonretarded,  and  the  unfinished  group. 

ACCELERATED   GROUP  (WHITE). 

In  order  to  secure  an  understanding  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
irregular  attendance  affects  progress,  it  is  necessary  to  inquire  hi  to  the 
amount  of  absence  of  those  children  who  had  made  no  failure.  It  is 
found  that  the  four  boys  and  two  girls  who  were  accelerated  had  been 
present  52  terms  and  26  terms,  respectively,  during  the  time  they  were 
in  the  elementary  schools,  and  that  these  terms  show  the  following 
distribution  with  reference  to  days  absent: 

44 


ABSENCE   FROM   SCHOOL  AND  PROGRESS.  45 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Accelerated  group. 


Days  absent. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9.... 

48 
2 
1 

1 
0 
0 

92.4 
3.8 
1.9 
1.9 
0 
0 

23 
2 
0 
1 
0 
0 

88.5 
7.7 
0 
3.8 
0 
0 

71 
4 

1 
1 
0 
0 

92.2 
5.2 
1.3 
1.3 
0 
G 

10  to  19 

20  to  29  

30  to  39  

40  to  49 

60  or  more.         

Total  

52 

100.0 

26 

100.0 

77 

100.0 

From  this  it  is  seen  that  92.4  per  cent  of  the  terms  of  attendance 
made  by  the  boys  and  88.5  per  cent  of  the  terms  of  attendance 
made  by  the  girls  showed  less  than  10  days  absent.  Only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  accelerated  children  were  absent  more  than  10 
days  in  one  term.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  one  boy  and 
one  girl  each  show  one  term  in  which  they  were  absent  as  many  as  30 
days  or  more  and  one  boy  (probably  the  same  boy)  shows  one  term 
in  which  he  was  absent  between  20  and  29  days.  Such  cases  are, 
however,  exceptional  rather  than  normal  and  occur  in  connection 
with  the  exceptional  children. 

NORMAL   GROUP  ( WHITE). 

The  20  boys  and  30  girls  composing  the  group  of  children  who 
made  normal  progress  show  a  total  attendance  of  280  terms  and 
420  terms,  respectively,  in  the  seven  years  they  were  in  school. 
These  terms  show  the  following  distribution  with  reference  to  days 
absent : 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Normal  group. 


Days  absent. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Percent. 

Oto9 

254 
25 
1 
0 
0 
0 

90.7 
8.9 
.4 
.0 
.0 
.0 

399 
20 
1 
0 
0 
0 

•95.0 
4.8 
.2 
.0 
.0 
0 

653 
45 
2 
0 
0 
0 

93.3 
6.4 
.3 
.0 
.0 
.0 

10  to  19  

20to29                         .                     .          .   .. 

30  to  39 

40  to  49  

50  or  more 

Total  

280 

100.0 

420 

100.0 

710 

100.0 

In  this  group  of  children,  90.7  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the 
boys  and  95  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  girls  show  an  absence 
of  less  than  10  days  to  a  term.  Only  a  small  percentage  of  the  normal 
children  are  absent  more  than  10  days  to  a  term. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  a  very  large  majority  of  the  children 
who  have  been  doing  the  work  of  the  elementary  grades  in  normal  or 
less  than  normal  time  have  been  absent  less  than  10  days  hi  one 
term,  or  90  days  of  school  work. 


46 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


DROPPED   GROUP NONRETARDED  ( WHITE). 

There  were  377  children  who  dropped  out  of  school  before  the 
expiration  of  seven  years.  Of  this  number,  48  boys  and  44  girls 
had  made  no  repetition.  An  examination  of  the  progress  made  by 
these  children  shows  that  the  boys  had  been  in  school  151  terms  and 
the  girls  had  been  in  school  176  terms.  The  days  absent  during 
these  terms  are  as  follows: 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Dropped  group — Nonretarded. 


Days  absent. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

0  to9  

116 
27 
7 
1 
0 
0 

76.8 
17.9 
4.6 
.7 
.0 
.0 

134 
32 
7 
3 
0 
0 

76.1 
18.2 
4.0 
1.7 
.0 
.0 

250 
59 
14 
4 
0 
0 

76.4 
18.0 
4.4 
1.2 

.0 

.0 

10  to  19 

20  to  29 

30  to  39.... 

40  to  49 

50  or  more  

Total 

151 

100.0 

176 

100.0 

327 

100.0 

In  this  group  of  children,  76.8  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the 
boys  and  76.1  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  girls  show  an  absence 
of  less  than  10  days,  while  as  many  as  17.9  per  cent  of  the  terms 
made  by  the  boys  and  18.2  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  girls 
show  an  absence  of  10  to  19  days.  It  would  seem  then  that  a  great 
many  of  these  children,  while  not  absent  in  any  one  term  long 
enough  to  cause  failure,  were,  nevertheless,  more  or  less  irregular  in 
attendance. 

DROPPED  GROUP — RETARDED  ( WHITE). 

Of  the  377  children  who  dropped  out  of  school,  150  boys  and  135 
girls  were  retarded.  The  total  attendance  of  these  150  boys  during 
the  tune  they  were  in  school  was  1,418  terms.  During  493  of  these 
terms,  these  boys  failed  on  the  work  of  their  grade,  and  during  the 
remaining  925  terms  they  were  promoted  on  the  work  of  their  grade. 
When  these  terms  are  distributed  in  relation  to  days  absent, 
following  data  are  secured: 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Dropped  group — Retarded. 


LQ6. 

g 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with  pro- 
motions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9  

288 
87 
34 
9 
7 
68 

58.5 
17.6 
7.0 
1.8 
1.4 
13.7 

733 
154 
29 

8 

1 

79.3 
16.6 
3.1 
.9 
.1 

1,021 
241 
63 
17 

8 
68 

72.0 

10tol9  

20  to  29  

30  to  39 

40  to  49  

50  or  more  

Total 

493 

100.0 

925 

100.0 

1,418 

100.0 

ABSENCE   FROM    SCHOOL  AND   PROGRESS. 


47 


By  this  comparison  it  is  seen  that  during  79.3  per  cent  of  the  925 
terms  when  these  boys  were  promoted  on  the  work  of  their  grade 
they  were  absent  less  than  10  days,  and  during  16.6  per  cent  of  these 
same  terms  they  were  absent  from  10  to  19  days.  These  percentages 
of  attendance  are  better  than  those  made  by  the  nonretarded  dropped 
group.  But  during  the  terms  (493)  when  these  boys  failed  on  the 
work  of  the  grade  their  attendance  was  not  nearly  so  good — only 

58.5  per  cent  of  these  terms  showed  less  than  10  days  absent  and 

17.6  per  cent  of  these  terms  showed  an  absence  of  10  to  19  days. 
The  small  percentage  of  terms  with  less  than  10  days  absent  when 
promotions  did  not  take  place  would  seem  to  indicate  that  an  absence 
of  more  than  10  days  in  one  term,  or  90 'days,  as  a  usual  thing,  has 
tended  to  increase  a  child's  chances  for  failure. 

The  135  girls  of  this  group  show  a  total  attendance  of  1,220  terms 
while  they  were  in  school.  During  412  of  these  terms  these  girls 
failed  to  be  promoted,  and  during  the  remaining  808  terms  they 
were  promoted  on  the  work  of  their  grade.  When  these  terms  are 
distributed  according  to  the  number  of  days  absent  the  following 
data  are  secured: 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred— Dropped  group — Retarded. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with  pro- 
motions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

0  to  9 

221 
79 
32 
19 
3 
58 

53.6 
19.2 
7.8 
4.6 
.7 
14.1 

600 
157 
34 
17 
0 
0 

74.3 
19.4 
4.2 
2.1 
.0 
.0 

821 
236 
66 
36 
3 
58 

67.3 
19.3 
5.4 
3.0 
.2 
4.8 

10  to  19 

20  to  29 

30  to  39  

40  to  49 

50  or  more  

Total  

412 

100.0 

808 

100.0 

1,220 

100.0 

The  girls  show  practically  the  same  tendency  as  the  boys.  During 
74.3  per  cent  of  the  808  terms  in  which  these  girls  were  promoted 
they  were  absent  less  than  10  days,  and  during  19.4  per  cent  of  these 
terms  they  were  absent  from  10  to  19  days;  but  during  the  412  terms 
in  which  they  were  not  promoted  on  the  work  of  their  grade  their 
attendance  was  lower — onliy  53.6  per  cent  of  these  terms  show  less 
than  10  days  absent,  and  19.2  per  cent  show  from  10  to  19  days 
absent. 

UNFINISHED   GROUP  (WHITE). 

Out  of  627  children  194  were  still  in  school  in  September,  1913.  Of 
this  number,  98  boys  had  spent  331  terms  in  which  they  failed  to  be 
promoted  and  1,103  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  to  another 
grade,  and  the  96  girls  had  spent  276  terms  in  which  they  failed  to  be 
promoted  and  1,141  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  to  another 


48 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


grade  in  the  seven  years  they  were  in  school.     By  distributing  these 
terms  in  relation  to  days  absent  the  following  comparison  is  obtained. 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred —  Unfinished  group  of  boys. 


Days  absent. 

Terras  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with  pro- 
motions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9 

240 
40 
19 

4 
0 
28 

72.5 
12.2 
5.7 
1.2 
.0 
8.4 

997 
96 
7 
2 
1 
0 

90.4 
8.7 
.6 
.2 
.1 
.0 

1.237 
136 
26 
6 

1 
28 

86  3 
9  5 
1  8 
4 

1 
1  9 

10  to  19 

20  to  29                                                 

30  to  39 

40  to  49                              

50  or  more                                      -  .- 

Total 

331 

100.0 

1,103 

100.0 

1,434 

100.0 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Unfinished  group  of  girls. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with  pro- 
motions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9 

179 
50 
14 
2 
0 
31 

64.9 
18.1 
5.1 
.7 
.0 
11.2 

1,007 
121 
10 
3 
0 
0 

88.2 
10.6 
.9 
.3 
.0 
.0 

1,186 
171 
24 
5 
0 
31 

83.6 
12.1 
1.7 
.4 
.0 
2.2 

10  to  19 

20  to  29 

30  to  39 

40  to  49                                      

50  or  more 

Total                                   

276 

100.0 

1,141 

100.0 

1,417 

100.0 

During  90.4  per  cent  of  the  1,103  terms  in  which  these  98  boys 
were  promoted  to  another  grade  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days, 
and  during  8.7  per  cent  of  these  same  terms  they  were  absent  from  10 
to  19  days  to  a  term;  but  during  72.5  per  cent  of  the  331  terms  in 
which  these  boys  failed  to  be  promoted  they  were  absent  less  than 
10  days,  and  during  12.2  per  cent  of  these  same  terms  they  were 
absent  from  10  to  19  days  to  a  term.  Likewise  the  96  girls  show  88.2 
per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  with  less  than  10 
days  absent  and  10.6  per  cent  of  these  same  terms  with  10  to  19  days 
absent  to  a  term.  During  64.9  per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  these 
same  girls  failed  to  be  promoted  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days, 
and  during  18.1  per  cent  of  these  terms  they  were  absent  from  10  to 
19  days  to  a  term. 


I 


ABSENCE   FROM   SCHOOL  AND   PROGRESS. 

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50 


PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


That  the  number  of  days  absent  is  closely  related  to  retardation  is 
further  shown  in  Table  18,  where  the  percentage  of  terms  showing  less 
than  10  days  absent  in  the  accelerated,  the  normal,  the  unfinished,  and 
dropped  nonretarded  groups  is  much  greater  than  is  the  percentage 
of  terms  with  less  than  10  days  absent  which  were  made  by  children  of 
the  unfinished  and  dropped  groups  while  they  were  repeating  grades. 
For  example,  the  150  boys  who  dropped  out  were  in  school  925  terms 
in  which  they  were  promoted  to  another  grade.  In  79.3  per  cent  of 
these  terms  the  boys  of  this  group  were  absent  less  than.  10  days. 
These  same  boys  were  in  school  493  terms  in  which  they  failed  to  be 
promoted.  In  58.5  per  cent  of  these  terms  they  were  absent  less 
than  10  days  to  a  term.  The  same  is  true  of  the  unfinished  group 
of  98  boys,  who  show  that  90.4  per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they 
were  promoted  fall  under  10  days  absent,  while  only  72.5  per  cent 
of  the  terms  in  which  the  same  children  failed  to  be  promoted  are 
under  10  days  absent.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  absence  has  been 
a  direct  cause  of  much  of  the  retardation  made  by  the  boys  and 
girls  who  have  repeated  before  they  dropped  out  of  school,  and  also 
of  the  retardation  made  by  the  boys  and  girls  who  were  still  in  school 
in  September,  1913. 


RETARDATION  OF  NEGRO  CHILDREN. 


In  estimating  the  retardation  made  by  the  negro  children  the  same 
method  is  employed  that  was  used  in  estimating  the  retardation  made 
by  the  white  children.  It  would  naturally  be  expected  to  find  more 
absence  among  these  children,  on  account  of  economic  reasons,  ill 
health,  etc.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  excellent  record  of  attend- 
ance made  by  these  children  is  significant. 

NORMAL    GROUP    (NEGRO). 

Out  of  547  children,  17  had  made  normal  progress.  Of  these  17 
children  there  were  3  boys  and  14  girls  who  had  been  in  school  52 
terms  and  196  terms,  respectively.  By  distributing  these  terms  in 
relation  to  days  absent  the  following  data  are  secured: 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Normal  group. 


Days  absent. 

•  Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9  

51 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 

98.07 
1.93 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 

188 
7 
1 
0 
0 
0 

95.9 
3.6 
.5 
.0 
.0 
.0 

239 
8 
1 
0 
0 
0 

96.4 
3.2 
.4 
.0 
.0 
.0 

10  to  19 

20  to  29 

30  to  39  

40  to  49 

50  or  more  

Total 

52 

100.0 

196 

100.0 

248 

100.0 

ABSENCE   FROM    SCHOOL   AND   PROGRESS. 


51 


During  95.9  per  cent  of  the  196  terms  made  by  the  girls  and  98  per 
cent  of  the  52  terms  made  by  the  boys,  there  was  an  absence  of  less 
than  10  days  to  a  term.  Manifestly,  then,  the  negro  children  who 
completed  the  work  of  the  elementary  grades  in  normal  time  were 
very  regular  in  attendance. 

DROPPED — NONRETARDED  (NEGRO). 

Of  the  414  children  who  had  dropped  out,  109  had  made  no  repeti- 
tions. The  46  boys  and  63  girls  comprising  this  group  were  in 
school  128  terms  and  176  terms,  respectively,  which  show  the  follow- 
ing distribution  in  relation  to  days  absent. 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Dropped  group — Nonretarded. 


Days  absent. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9 

115 
11 
2 
0 
0 
0 

89.9 
8.6 
1.5 
.0 
.0 
.0 

165 
10 
1 
0 
0 
0 

93.8 
5.7 
.5 
.0 
.0 
.0 

280 
21 
3 
0 
0 
0 

92.0 
7.0 
1.0 
.0 
.0 
.0 

10  to  19  

20  to  29 

30  to  39  

40  to  49 

50  or  more  

Total  

128 

100.0 

176 

100.0 

304 

100.0 

Therefore  93.8  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  girls  and  89.9 
per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  boys  show  an  absence  of  less  than 
10  days  to  a  term,  while  only  5.7  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the 
girls  and  8.6  per  cent  of  the  terms  made  by  the  boys  show  an  ab- 
sence of  10  to  19  days  to  a  term.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  poor  at- 
tendance was  not  a  strong  factor  in  influencing  these  children  to  leave 
school. 

DROPPED RETARDED    (NEGRO.) 

Of  the  414  children  who  dropped  out,  305  showed  failure  of  promo- 
tion at  some  time  or  another.  In  this  number  there  were  172  boys 
who  had  been  in  school  541  terms  in  which  they  were  not  promoted 
and  742  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  to  another  grade;  and 
there  were  133  girls  who  had  been  in  school  407  terms  in  which  they 
were  not  promoted  and  683  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted.  By 
distributing  these  terms  in  relation  to  days  absent  the  following  data 
are  secured. 


52  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Dropped  group  of  boys — Retarded. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with 
promotions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

0  to  9                                     ... 

429 
37 
10 
1 
0 
64 

79.5 
6.7 
1.8 
.2 
.0 
11.8 

703 
37 
2 
0 
0 
0 

94.8 
4.9 
.3 
.0 
.0 
.0 

1,132 
74 
12 
1 
0 
64 

88.3 
5.8 
.9 
.1 
.0 
4.9 

10  to  19 

20  to  29              

30  to  39 

40  to  49 

50  or  more            

Total      

541 

100.0 

742 

100.0 

1,283 

100.0 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Dropped  group  of  girls — Retarded. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with 
promotions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Percent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

0  to  9             

322 
30 
4 
1 
1 
49 

79.1 
7.3 
1.0 
.3 
.3 
12.0 

648 
33 
2 
0 
0 
0 

94.9 
4.8 
.3 
.0 
.0 
.0 

970 
63 
6 
1 

1 
49 

89.0 
5.8 
.5 
.1 
.1 
4.5 

10  to  19                                       

20  to  29 

30  to  39                     

40  to  49 

50  or  more                  

Total 

407 

100.0 

683 

100.0 

1,090 

100.0 

These  172  boys  show  that  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days  to  a 
term  in  94.8  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  terms  (742)  in  which  they 
were  promoted  and  in  79.5  of  the  total  number  of  terms  (541)  in 
which  they  were  not  promoted  on  the  work  of  their  grade.  Likewise 
the  girls  show  that  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days  to  a  term  in 
94.9  per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  and  in  79.1 
per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they  were  not  promoted  on  the  work 
of  their  grade. 

UNFINISHED   GROUP   (NEGRO). 

There  were  116  children  in  school  September,  1913,  out  of  the  547 
who  were  in  the  1A  grade  September,  1906.  Of  this  number,  there 
were  53  boys  who  had  been  in  school  244  terms  in  which  they  were 
not  promoted  and  540  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted,  and  there 
were  63  girls  who  had  been  in  school  243  terms  in  which  they  were 
not  promoted  and  669  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  on  the 
work  of  their  grade.  These  terms  are  distributed  in  relation  to  days 
absent  as  follows : 


ABSENCE   FROM    SCHOOL  AND  PROGRESS.  53 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred —  Unfinished  group  of  boys. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with 
promotions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Percent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9  

227 

5 

1 

0 
10 

93.0 
2.1 
.4 
.4 
.0 
4.1 

532 
7 
1 
0 
0 
0 

98.5 
.     1-3 
.2 
.0 
.0 
.0 

759 
12 
2 

1 
0 
10 

96.9 
1.5 
.3 
.4 
.0 
1.2 

10  to  19 

20  to  29  

30  to  39 

40  to  49  

50  or  more 

Total  

244 

100.0 

540 

100.0 

784 

100.0 

Terms  in  which  specified  number  of  absences  occurred — Unfinished  group  of  girls. 


Days  absent. 

Terms  without 
promotions. 

Terms  with 
promotions. 

Total. 

Number. 

Percent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Oto9  

222 
11 
1 
0 
0 
9 

91.4 
4.5 
.4 
.0 
.0 
3.7 

664 
4 
1 
0 
0 
0 

99.3 
.6 
.1 
.0 
.0 
.0 

886 
15 
2 
0 
0 
9 

97.2 
1.6 
.2 
.0 
.0 
1.0 

10  to  19 

20  to  29 

30  to  39... 

40  to  49 

50  or  more  

Total 

243 

100.0 

669 

100.0 

912 

100.0 

These  children  show  better  attendance  than  those  that  dropped 
out.  During  the  total  number  of  terms  in  which  these  boys  were 
promoted  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days  to  a  term  in  98.5 
per  cent  of  the  terms  and  from  10  to  19  days  to  a  term  in  1.3  per 
cent  of  the  terms;  during  the  total  number  of  terms  in  which  they 
were  not  promoted  they  were  absent  less  than  10  days  to  a  term  in 
93  per  cent  of  the  terms  and  from  10  to  19  days  to  a  term  in  2.1  per 
cent  of  the  terms.  Likewise  the  girls  show  that  during  the  total 
number  of  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted  they  were  absent  less 
than  10  days  to  a  term  in  99.3  per  cent  of  the  terms  and  from  10  to 
19  days  to  a  term  in  less  than  1  per  cent  (0.6  per  cent)  of  the  terms; 
but  during  the  total  number  of  terms  in  which  they  were  not  pro- 
moted they  were  absent  less  than  10  days  to  a  term  in  91.4  per  cent 
of  the  terms  and  from  10  to  19  days  to  a  term  in  4.5  per  cent  of  the 
terms. 


54 


Percentage  of  terms  with  specified  number  of  days  absent. 

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ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


ABSENCE   FROM    SCHOOL   AND   PROGRESS.  55 

Table  19  shows  how  a  very  large  majority  of  the  children  who  were 
absent  less  than  10  days  to  a  term  were  the  ones  who  made  normal 
progress.  It  shows  also  that  during  the  terms  in  which  they  were 
not  promoted  they  were  absent  more  than  10  days  to  a  term  in  a  very 
great  many  cases.  From  these  results  there  can  be  no  question  about 
the  fact  that  much  of  the  retardation  occurring  in  this  group  of 
children  might  have  been  prevented  if  they  had  been  in  school. 
Their  absence  is  connected  directly  with  their  failure. 

ENTRANCE   AGES   AND   PROGRESS   THROUGH   SCHOOL. 

Where  there  has  been  no  compulsory  school  law,  it  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  the  age  at  which  children  entered  school  will  vary  more 
than  where  they  have  been  required  to  enter  at  a  certain  age.  Since 
there  has  been  considerable  retardation  in  this  group  of  children, 
it  seems  worth  while  to  inquire  the  age  at  which  they  have  entered 
school  and  to  inquire  further  as  to  whether  late  entrance  goes  along 
with  retardation. 


56 


PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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ABSENCE  FROM   SCHOOL  AND  PROGRESS.  57 

Tables  20  and  21  give  the  information  for  the  white  and  colored 
children  separated  into  dropped-retarded,  dropped-nonretarded,  and 
unfinished  and  finished  groups.  The  tables  are  read  as  follows:  On 
Table  20  there  are  150  boys  and  135  girls  who  had  repeated  grades 
before  they  dropped  out.  Of  this  number  12  boys  and  13  girls 
entered  at  6  years,  81  boys  and  74  girls  entered  at  7  years,  28  boys  and 
33  girls  entered  at  8  years,  etc.  The  median  age  at  which  the  beys 
entered  was  6.8  years,  and  the  median  age  at  which  the  girls  entered 
was  6.7  years. 

From  the  information  on  these  tables  it  seems  that,  considered  as 
groups,  the  children  who  dropped  out  of  school  show  a  wider  range 
in  the  age  of  entrance  to  school  than  do  the  children  who  finished  in 
normal  or  in  less  than  normal  time  or  who  were  still  in  school.  This 
difference  is  sufficiently  large  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  late 
entrance  to  school  increases  the  probability  of  dropping  out  before 
the  completion  of  the  work  of  the  elementary  schools. 

In  summarizing  the  results  of  this  inquiry  into  the  effect  which  a 
child's  attendance  and  the  age  at  which  he  enters  school  have  had 
on  his  progress  through  school  the  following  points  should  be  noticed : 

1.  Children  in  the  white  schools  showed  an  absence  of  less  than  10  days  in  76  per 
cent  to  92  per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted.     During  the  terms  in 
which  they  were  not  promoted  they  showed  an  absence  of  less  than  10  days  in  only 
58  per  cent  to  72  per  cent  of  the  terms. 

2.  Children  in  the  Negro  schools  showed  an  absence  of  less  than  10  days  in  89  per 
cent  to  98  per  cent  of  the  terms  in  which  they  were  promoted.     During  the  terms  in 
which  they  were  not  promoted  they  showed  an  absence  of  less  than  10  days  in  only 
79  per  cent  to  93  per  cent  of  the  terms. 

3.  The  children  who  dropped  out  of  school  include  a  very  large  majority  of  those 
who  entered  school  late.     In  general  the- chances  for  normal  progress  favor  those  who 
entered  about  7  years  of  age — the  normal  entrance  age. 

Such,  then,  is  the  progress  which  the  children  in  the  Richmond 
public  schools  have  been  making  in  the  past  seven  years,  supposing 
the  results  to  be  practically  the  same  from  year  to  year.  The  infor- 
mation in  the  previous  chapters  represents  the  output  which  the 
Richmond  public  school  system  as  a  business  concern  has  been 
yielding. 

If  the  application  of  scientific  measurements  is  made  to  these  con- 
ditions, what  results  will  such  measurements  show?  Can  tests  be 
employed  to  show  that  many  of  these  children  who  were  compelled 
to  repeat  a  grade  or  more  could  have  done  more  advanced  work  if 
they  had  been  given  a  chance?  The  answer  to  such  problems  will 
be  the  aim  of  the  chapters  which  follow. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

APPLICATION  OF  MENTAL  TESTS  IN  DETERMINING  THE   PLACEMENT 

OF  CHILDREN. 


In  the  former  chapters  it  was  shown  that  absence  was  connected 
not  only  with  failure  of  children  to  be  promoted,  but  also  with  their 
dropping  out.  It  was  further  shown,  however,  that  the  children  who 
remained  in  school  and  who  had  repeated  at  some  time  or  another  in 
the  grades  had  done  so  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  progress  had  been 
against  them.  Their  tendency  to  remain  in  school  would  indicate 
that  their  desire  to  get  on  is  strong  enough  to  give  the  school  system 
a  basis  for  successful  operation  with  these  children.  If  children  do 
persist  in  the  grades  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  are  compelled  to 
repeat  a  grade  from  time  to  time,  the  question  is  forced  upon  us,  Does 
not  the  subject  matter  have  something  to  do  with  the  poor  progress 
of  these  children  ? 

It  is  customary  for  teachers  and  school  officials  in  the  grading  and 
promotion  of  children  to  be  guided  by  age  and  achievement  in  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  the  grade.  The  basis  for  the  selection  of  this  material  is 
too  often  from  the  adult's  standpoint;  consequently  the  question  can 
be  raised  as  to  whether  this  standard  which  the  school  sets  up  is  not 
wrong.  Does  it  take  into  consideration  the  wide  range  of  individual 
differences  ?  Does  it  offer  activities  broad  enough  to  meet  the  varying 
needs  of  the  children  who  enter  the  public  schools  ?  Are  there  many 
children  in  the  public  schools  held  back  when  they  have  the  mentality 
to  advance?  It  would  seem,  then,  that  inquiry  into  this  particular 
problem  would  be  pertinent.  In  the  second  place  the  standard  chron- 
ological age  set  by  the  different  public-school  systems  does  not  tell 
very  much.  Individual  differences  in  mentality  are  so  great  that 
the  average  age  of  a  grade  is  of  little  value.  Consequently  a  more 
scientific  means  of  determining  the  placement  of  a  child  when  he  enters 
the  public  schools  seems  necessary,  if  we  are  to  value  properly  the 
abilities  of  children. 

In  recent  years  a  wider  use  has  been  made  of  various  tests  to  deter- 
mine general  mentality.  Among  the  most  important  ones  used  are 
the  Binet-Simon  tests,  the  De  Sanctis  tests,  the  Opposite  tests,  the 
Association  tests,  and  the  like.  The  test  that  seems  to  lend  itself 
most  successfully  to  practical  purposes  is  the  Binet-Simon  test,  which 
has  been  used  from  time  to  time  for  administrative  purposes,  such 
58 


MENTAL   TESTS  FOE  PLACEMENT  OF   CHILDREN.  59 

as  the  detection  of  low-grade  mentality  in  the  public  schools  in  order 
that  such  children  may  be  removed  from  the  regular  class  and  placed 
in  special  classes.  There  can  be  no  question  about  the  fact  that,  while 
this  test  has  its  defects,  it  is  probably  the  most  serviceable  test  for  ad- 
ministrative procedure  in  use  at  the  present  time.  More  extended 
use  of  this  test  and  others  is  being  made  by  permanent  psychological 
departments  in  the  larger  city  school  systems.  Psychologists  are 
employing  this  test  in  the  hands  of  skillful  examiners  to  determine 
the  mentality  of  children  entering  the  public  schools,  and  thereby  to 
determine  their  placement  in  the  grades. 

In  the  past  the  tendency  has  been  to  measure  a  child's  ability  by 
his  chronological  age.  For  example,  a  boy  10  years  old  might  be 
found  in  the  2B  grade  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  ought  to  be  in 
the  4A  or  4B  grade.  There  are  many  such  children  who  are  held 
back  on  the  supposition  that  they  are  unable  to  do  the  work  in  a 
more  advanced  grade,  and  yet  actual  experience  has  proved  that 
when  many  of  these  children  are  given  a  trial  in  a  more  advanced 
grade  they  can  do  as  well  as  the  children  who  have  been  regularly 
promoted. 

The  material  for  this  study  has  been  taken  from  the  cumulative 
record  cards  of  743  white  children  who  made  up  the  total  enrollment 
of  grades  1A  to  5A,  inclusive,  in  three  schools  in  September,  1913. 
With  the  exception  of  one  school,  it  can  be  said  that  a  very  large 
majority  of  these  children  come  from  the  average  home,  so  that  the 
group  which  has  been  selected  for  study  can  in  no  way  be  called  a 
selected  group. 

The  plan  has  been  to  study  the  actual  progress  made  by  these 
children  during  the  time  they  have  been  in  school.  After  this  infor- 
mation had  been  secured,  it  was  compared  with  the  results  from  the 
Binet-Simon  tests  that  had  been  used  to  test  the  mentality  of  these 
children.  The  information  concerning  the  progress  of  these  children 
as  it  was  found  on  the  cumulative  record  cards  is  presented  first. 


60  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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MENTAL   TESTS  FOE  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN.  61 

Table  22  shows  the  great  amount  of  more  than  normal  time  taken 
by  743  children  in  grades  1A  to  5 A,  inclusive,  of  the  three  schools  to 
make  their  present  grades.  The  table  is  arranged  by  terms  in  school 
on  the  top  horizontal  line  and  by  grades  with  boys  and  girls  separate 
on  the  vertical  line  to  the  left.  It  is  read  as  follows:  1A  grade  had 
in  it  18  boys  and  10  girls,  all  of  whom  have  consumed  more  than  the 
normal  time  therein.  Of  this  number  14  boys  and  9  girls  are  in  their 
second  term,  3  boys  and  1  girl  are  in  their  third  term,  and  1  boy  is  in 
his  fourth  term. 

The  chief  significance  of  this  table  is  shown  by  the  small  number  of 
students  who  have  consumed  the  normal  time  in  attaining  their 
present  grades  in  comparison  with  the  large  number  of  students  who 
have  spent  a  much  longer  tune  than  normal  to  do  the  same  work. 
This  fact  is  shown,  for  example,  by  the  distribution  of  the  68  boys 
and  57  girls  in  the  IB  grade.  Of  this  number  only  45  boys  and  41 
girls,  or  about  two-thirds,  have  made  the  grade  in  2  terms,  or  the 
normal  time,  while  6  boys  and  6  girls  have  taken  3  terms,  8  boys  and 
6  girls  have  taken  4  terms,  3  boys  and  1  girl  have  taken  5  terms,  2 
boys  and  2  girls  have  taken  6  terms,  3  boys  and  1  girl  have  taken  7 
terms,  and  1  boy  has  taken  10  terms. 

It  will  be  observed,  too,  that  the  proportion  of  children  doing  the 
work  of  the  grades  in  normal  time  actually  decreases  the  higher  they 
advance  through  the  grades,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  children  in 
the  upper  grades  have  been  in  school  longer  and  have  had  more  oppor- 
tunity to  be  retarded.  The  number  of  terms  more  than  normal 
made  by  individual  children,  however,  increases.  In  the  4B  grade, 
for  example,  out  of  32  boys  and  37  girls,  10  boys  and  18  girls — about 
one-third  of  the  boys  and  about  one-half  of  the  girls — have  attained 
that  grade  in  8  terms  or  normal  time,  while  6  boys  and  2  girls  have 
spent  9  terms,  7  boys  and  8  girls  have  spent  10  terms,  4  boys  and  3 
girls  have  spent  11  terms,  4  boys  and  1  girl  have  spent  12  terms,  1 
boy  and  2  girls  have  spent  13  terms,  1  girl  has  spent  14  terms,  1  girl 
15  terms,  and  1  girl  16  terms — 8  terms  or  4  years  more  than  normal 
time. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  Why  is  it  that  such  a  large  number 
of  boys  and  girls  require  a  much  longer  time  to  do  the  grade  work 
than  they  are  expected  to  consume  ?  Two  possible  answers  to  this 
question  might  be  suggested  in  the  form  of  questions  which  were 
raised  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  First,  could  it  be  possible 
that  the  standard  set  by  the  school  system  is  wrong,  even  for  the 
normal  child,  and  second,  is  the  subject  matter  selected  suitable  to 
reach  the  widely  varying  needs  of  the  individuals  who  come  into  the 
school  system  ? 

Information  which  relates  to  these  problems  will  be  presented  in 
other  tables  of  this  chapter. 


62 


PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


TABLE  23.' — Distribution  of  743  children  by  grade  and  terms  in  school,  showing  the  extent 
of  slow,  normal,  and  rapid  progress. 


Grade. 

Sex. 

Terms  less  than 
normal. 

Nor- 
mal 
to- 
tal. 

Terms  more  than  normal. 

Total 
num- 
ber of 
chil- 
dren. 

3 

2 

1 

To- 
tal. 

To- 
tal. 

• 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

1A  

/Boys.... 

18 
10 
23 
16 
37 
32 
37 
15 
35 
33 
26 
15 
31 
28 
22 
19 
24 
23 

14 
9 
6 
6 
25 
20 
11 
8 
17 
21 
8 
6 
10 
16 
6 
2 
6 
6 

3 
1 

8 
6 
6 
5 
11 
3 
7 
7 
6 
5 
7 
3 
7 
8 
3 
9 

1 

18 
10 
68 
57 
54 
48 
62 
45 
45 
46 
43 
32 
39 
38 
32 
37 
37 
32 

IB  

\Girls  
/Boys  ... 

45 
41 
17 
16 
24 
29 
10 
10 
15 
17 
7 
8 
10 
18 
13 
9 

141 
148 

35T 
42-.  9 

3 
1 

4 
6 
10 
3 
6 
1 
5 
2 
8 
2 
4 
3 
7 
4. 

2 
2 
1 

3 
1 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys.... 

1 

\Girls.... 

1 

/Boys.... 

1 
1 

1 
1 

1 
1 
2 
3 
3 
2 
3 
1 
4 
1 
4 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

\Girls 

/Boys.  .  . 

1 
1 



2 



3  A  
3B  

!  Girls.... 

3 
2 

3 
2 

Boys.  .  .  . 

Pir1<5 

1 

2 

1 

Boys  

I 

1 
2 

2 

1 
1 
2 
3 
2 

\Girls 

1 

3 

2 

/Boys  

\Girls 

1 
1 

1 

1 

/Boys... 

5A  

Total  .. 

Percent.. 
Total  . 

\Girls  . 

1 



/Boys  ... 

4 
6 

1.1 
1.8 

4 
5 

LI 
1.5 

253 
191 

63.5 
55.3 

103 
94 

58 
47 

48 
22 

20 
11 

11 

8 

2.8 
2.3 

3 

4 

6 
4 

Ts" 

1.2 

4 
1 

... 
1.0 
.3 

398 
345 

\Girls 

1 

/Boys 

25.9 

27.2 

14.5 
13.6 

12.1 
6.3 

5.0 
3.2 

.7 
1.2 

\Girls.... 

.3 

.1 

1.2 

1.3 

38.8 

59.9 

26.6 

14.2 

9.4 

4.2 

2.6 

.9 

1.3 

.7 

Table  23  shows  the  same  number  of  children — 743 — grouped  ac- 
cording to  "less  than  normal/'  "normal,"  and  "more  than  normal" 
progress,  in  terms  of  totals  and  individuals  as  well  as  percentages. 
This  table  is  read  as  follows:  The  figures  along  the  top  horizontal 
line  represent  terms  in  school,  and  the  figures  along  the  perpendicular 
line  on  the  left  represent  grades,  with  boys  and  girls  separated.  None 
of  the  18  boys  and  10  girls  in  the  1A  grade  have  made  their  grade  in 
less  than  normal  time,  or  in  normal  time.  Of  this  number,  14  boys 
and  9  girls  have  been  in  school  1  term  more  than  the  normal  time,  3 
boys  and  1  girl  2  terms  more  than  normal  time,  and  1  boy  3  terms  more 
than  normal  time.  In  the  3B  grade,  out  of  43  boys  and  32  girls,  2 
boys  have  made  their  grade  in  1  term  less  than  normal  time,  15  boys 
and  17  girls  have  made  their  grade  in  normal  time,  while  26  boys  and 
15  girls  have  taken  more  than  normal  time.  Of  these  26  boys  and 
15  girls,  8  boys  and  6  girls  have  taken  1  term  more  than  normal  time, 
6  boys  and  5  girls  have  taken  2  terms  more,  5  boys  and  2  girls  have 
taken  3  terms  more,  3  boys  and  2  girls  have  taken  4  terms  more,  1 
boy  has  taken  6  terms  more,  2  boys  have  taken  7  terms  more,  and  1 
boy  has  taken  8  terms  more  than  normal  time. 

The  fact  that  every  child  in  the  1A  grade  has  taken  more  than 
normal  time  to  secure  his  present  standing  calls  for  an  explanation. 
This  situation  would  give  this  grade  100  per  cent  retardation.  Such 
a  condition  was  brought  about  by  the  fact  that  these  records  were 
taken  after  the  promotions  and  reorganization  had  been  made  in 


I 


MENTAL  TESTS  FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN. 


63 


January,  at  the  end  of  the  first  half  session.  The  entire  group  of  743 
children  comprised  only  those  who  were  in  school  when  the  mental 
tests  were  made,  which  was  in  October,  November,  and  December. 
In  two  schools  all  of  the  children  in  the  1A  grade  were  promoted  at 
the  end  of  the  first  session,  and  in  the  third  school  all  of  the  children 
in  the  1A  grade  except  18  boys  and  10  girls.  Since  the  children 
entering  after  the  first  mental  tests  had  been  made  were  not  tested 
and  therefore  not  included  in  this  study,  there  remained  only  these 
28  children  out  of  the  743  children  who  were  in  the  1A  grade  when 
their  records  were  made,  which  was  in  April,  1914. 

When  these  results  are  worked  over  into  percentages,  it  is  found  that 
the  number  of  children  making  their  present  standing  is  as  follows : 

Percentages  of  children  making  their  present  standing. 


More  than  normal  time. 

Less  than  normal  time. 

Normal  time. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

Total  

63.5 

55.3 

59.9 

1.1 

1.8 

1.3 

35.4 

42.8 

38.8 

1  term 

25.9 
14.5 
12.1 
5.0 
2.8 
0.7 
1.5 
1.0 

27.2 
13.6 
6.3 
3.2 
2.3 
1.2 
1.2 
0.3 

26.6 
14.2 
9.4 
4.2 
2.6 
0.9 
1.3 
0.7 

1.1 

1.5 
0.3 

1.2 
0.1 

3  terms 

4  terms 

6  terms 

8  terms 

From  these  percentages  it  is  seen  that,  of  these  743  children,  38.8 
per  cent  have  progressed  normally  since  they  have  been  in  school,  1.3 
per  cent  have  progressed  more  rapidly  than  the  normal  time,  while 
59.9  per  cent  have  taken  more  than  the  normal  time  to  reach  their 
present  grade.  It  is  significant  also  that  26.6  per  cent  of  these  743 
children  have  repeated  1  term,  and  14.2  per  cent  have  repeated  2 
terms. 

Furthermore,  for  every  2  children  who  have  made  normal  progress, 
3  children  have  made  less  than  normal  progress,  and  for  every  child 
who  has  made  more  than  normal  progress,  practically  30  children 
have  made  normal  progress  and  44  children  have  made  less  than 
normal  progress. 


64  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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MENTAL   TESTS  FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN.  65 

Table  24  shows  the  extent  to  which  these  444  children  of  the  total 
number,  743,  had  repeated  and  the  grades  in  which  the  repetition 
occurred;  also  what  percentage  the  number  of  children  who  had 
repeated  in  each  grade  was  of  the  total  number  in  these  grades.  This 
table  is  read  as  follows : 

The  18  boys  and  10  girls  in  the  1A  grade  who  had  repeated  have 
made,  since  they  entered  school,  34  repetitions,  all  of  which  were  of 
course  in  the  lA  grade.  The  26  boys  and  15  girls  in  the  3B  grade 
who  had  repeated  have  made  105  repetitions  since  they  entered  school. 
Of  these  105  repetitions,  25  were  in  the  lA  grade,  22  were  in  the  IB 
grade,  23  were  hi  the  2 A  gra.de,  10  were  in  the  2B  grade,  19  were  in 
the  3A  grade,  and  6  were  in  the  3B  grade.  These  repetitions  occur 
most  frequently  in  the  lA,  IB,  and  2A  grades.  It  is  seen,  then,  that 
these  444  children  made  988  repetitions,  or  an  average  of  2.2  repeti- 
tions per  child.  Therefore  59.9  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment  in 
grades  lA  to  5A  of  three  schools  show  an  average  repetition  of  2.2 
terms. 

These  data  are  significant  also  in  showing  that  children  do  persist 
in  school  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  are  compelled  to  repeat  again 
and  again.  With  the  exception  of  the  lA  grade,  which  presents  an 
abnormal  situation,  the  highest  percentage  of  repetition  is  kept  up 
from  the  2A  grade  through  the  5A  grade.  It  is  seen,  further,  that 
the  children  in  the  higher  grades  do  not  make  all  their  repetitions  in 
the  first  two  or  three  grades,  but  that  these  repetitions  continue  as 
long  as  these  children  remain  in  school. 

By  way  of  summary,  then,  it  is  found  in  connection  with  these  743 
children  that,  in  relation  to  terms  in  school,  1.3  per  cent  had  made 
more  than  normal  progress,  38.8  per  cent  had  made  normal  progress^ 
and  59.9  per  cent  had  made  less  than  normal  progress. 

The  prevailing  custom  among  superintendents  and  other  adminis- 
trative officers  has  been  to  classify  children  on  the  basis  of  their  chrono- 
logical ages  as  follows:  Those  who  are  younger  than  the  age  set  for 
their  grade  are  called  under  age  or  accelerated;  those  who  are  of  the 
same  age  as  the  age  set  for  their  grade  are  called  normal;  and  those 
who  are  older  than  the  age  set  for  their  grade  are  called  over  age  or 
retarded.  The  percentage  of  over-age  children  has  been  used  as 
indicative  of  the  amount  of  retardation  in  a  school  system.  If  all 
children  entered  at  the  same  age,  the  percentage  of  over-age  children 
would  represent  the  amount  of  retardation.  But,  since  there  has 
been  no  compulsory  school  law  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  all  children 
have  not  entered  at  the  same  age,  nor  have  they  progressed  at  the  same 
rate.  Consequently  a  child  who  entered  at  9  years,  when  the  regular 
age  is  7  years,  might  have  made  two  grades  in  one  year  and  would 
therefore  be  accelerated  for  the  time  he  has  been  in  school  and  would 
7534°— 16 5 


66 


PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


also  very  likely  have  more  than  normal  ability,  but  he  would  still  be 
a  year  over  age  and  therefore  retarded,  if  the  total  number  of  years 
over  age  meant  total  retardation. 

Therefore,  since  the  percentage  of  children  who  are  too  old  for  their 
grade,  according  to  the  standard  set  by  the  Richmond  school  system, 
has  been  used  to  indicate  the  progress  of  children  through  the  grades, 
the  next  step  is  to  ascertain  what  percentage  of  these  743  children 
are  above  the  grades  in  which  they  are  working. 


MENTAL   TESTS  FOR   PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN, 


67 


68 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


MENTAL  TESTS   FOB  PLACEMENT  OF   CHILDREN, 


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70  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

The  percentage  of  these  743  children  who  are  over  age  is  shown  in 
Tables  25,  26,  and  27. 

These  tables  distribute  this  group  of  children  by  grades  and  chro- 
nological ages.  In  this  distribution,  however,  the  boys  and  girls 
who  have  not  repeated  at  any  time  since  they  have  been  in  school 
are  kept  separate  from  those  who  have  repeated.  Likewise  the  boys 
and  girls  who  have  skipped  a  grade  are  kept  to  themselves.  Table 
25  gives  this  distribution  for  the  10  children  who  have  skipped. 
Table  26  gives  the  distribution  for  the  289  children  who  have  not 
repeated,  and  Table  27  gjves  the  distribution  for  the  444  who  have 
repeated  at  some  time  or  another.  Of  these  743  children,  48  per 
cent  were  of  normal  age,  16  per  cent  were  under  age  or  accelerated, 
and  36  per  cent  were  over  age  or  retarded.  If  the  percentages  of 
normal-age,  under-age,  and  over-age  children  in  the  groups  of  chil- 
dren who  had  repeated  and  those  who  had  not  repeated  are  com- 
pared, the  following  results  are  secured: 

Percentages  of  repeater 'sand nonrepeaters ,  according  to  age. 


Of 
normal 
age. 

Under 
age. 

Over 

age. 

Repeaters                                                                  

41.2 

6.8 

52.0 

57.4 

29.7 

12  9 

From  an  analysis  of  these  figures  it  is  seen  that  the  percentage  of 
normal-age  children  increases  from  41.2  per  cent  among  those  who 
had  repeated  to  57.4  per  cent  among  those  who  had  not  repeated; 
that  the  percentage  of  under-age  children  increases  from  6.8  per 
cent  among  those  who  had  repeated  to  29.7  per  cent  among  those 
who  had  not  repeated;  and  that  the  percentage  of  over-age  children 
decreases  from  52  per  cent  among  those  who  had  repeated  to  12.9 
per  cent  among  those  who  had  not  repeated. 

Clearly,  then,  the  largest  percentage  of  under-age  or  accelerated 
children  is  chiefly  among  those  who  do  not  repeat,  and  the  largest 
percentage  of  over-age  children  is  chiefly  among  those  who  have 
repeated.  It  would  seem  that  failure  to  proceed  normally  in  the 
grades  is  a  very  strong  factor  in  causing  the  large  percentage  of 
over-age  children  in  this  group;  and,  further,  that  this  large  per- 
centage of  over-age  children  is  a  strong  index  of  the  amount  of 
repetition,  although  not  absolute. 


MENTAL   TESTS  FOB  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN.  71 

A  further  comparison  of  these  percentages  reveals  the  following : 

Percentages  of  repeaters  and  nonrepeaters,  by  age  and  terms. 


Percent  over 
age. 

Per  cent  under 
age. 

Per  cent  of  normal 
age. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Total 

52.0 

12.9 

6.8 

29.7 

41.2 

57.4 

1  term 

30.5 
13.1 
5.9 
2.3 
.2 

11.2 
1.1 
.3 
.3 

6.8 

2  terms     

3  terms 

4  terms 

5  terms                              

From  these  data  it  would  seem  that  a  high  percentage  of  over-age 
children  and  of  repetition  are  closely  connected.  As  a  usual  thing, 
children  are  too  old  for  their  grade  for  the  reason  that  they  have 
been  compelled  to  repeat  from  time  to  time. 

In  summarizing  the  information  from  the  cumulative  record  cards 
of  these  743  children,  the  following  comparison  can  be  made  which 
shows  what  is  actually  taking  place  in  relation  to  the  chronological 
age  and  the  progress  of  these  children  for  the  time  they  have  been 
in  school:  Per  cent  making  normal  progress,  38.8;  per  cent  making 
more  than  normal  progress,  1.3;  per  cent  making  less  than  normal 
progress,  59.9.  Per  cent  of  normal  age,  48;  per  cent  under  age,  16; 
per  cent  over  age,  36. 

From  these  data  it  is  quite  evident  that  there  is  a  large  number  of 
children  in  grades  1 A  to  5 A  of  these  three  schools  who  are  much  below 
the  grades  in  which  they  ought  to  be.  They  have  been  in  school 
long  enough  and  are  old  enough  to  be  further  advanced.  Wherein 
lies  the  trouble?  Is  it  with  the  low  mentality  of  these  children  or 
with  the  school  system?  There  is  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  many 
teachers  that,  until  children  have  covered  all  the  work  of  a  certain 
grade,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  succeed  in  a  higher  grade  even 
though  the  experience  of  these  children  may  be  broad  enough  for  more 
advanced  work.  From  time  to  time,  however,  there  have  been  exper- 
iments made  which  indicate  that  such  children,  when  given  an  oppor- 
tunity, can  do  the  work  of  the  higher  grades  as  well  as  many  of 
those  who  have  been  regularly  promoted. 

In  order  to  ascertain  whether  many  of  these  743  children,  as  well 
as  other  children  in  the  public  schools  of  Richmond  who  are  over  age 
and  who  have  taken  more  than  normal  time  to  reach  their  present 
grade,  have  the  mentality  to  do  work  in  advance  of  the  grade  in 
which  they  are  working,  an  investigation  of  the  mentality  of  these 
children  was  planned.  It  was  decided  to  use  the  Binet-Simon  test 


72  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

for  this  purpose.  The  procedure  in  this  investigation  consisted 
of  an  examination  of  these  same  743  children  in  grades  1A  to  5A  of 
the  three  white  schools;  later  a  selected  group  was  examined. 

The  Binet-Simon  test  measures  a  child's  mentality  in  relation  to 
its  chronological  age,  thereby  establishing  its  mental  age.  By 
means  of  a  graded  set  of  questions,  it  is  possible  to  tell  whether  a 
child  has  as  much  or  more  ability  in  relation  to  certain  traits  than 
the  average  child  for  his  age.  If  a  child  can  answer  all  of  the  ques- 
tions— or  their  equivalent — and  no  more,  which  are  answered  by  the 
average  of  a  large  number  of  normal  children  of  the  same  chrono- 
logical age,  he  is  called  "  at  age;"  if  he  can  not  answer  these  questions 
or  a  sufficient  number  of  other  questions  to  balance  those  missed, 
he  is  called  "under  age; "  or  if  he  can  answer  all  of  these  questions  and 
other  questions  intended  for  older  children,  he  is  called  "over  age." 

Children  are  further  divided  according  to  their  mental  ages  as 
follows:  All  children  whose  mental  ages  are  the  same  as  their  chrono- 
logical ages  or  whose  mental  ages  are  1  year  above  or  1  year  below 
their  chronological  ages  are  called  "normal;"  children  whose  mental 
ages  are  2  years  or  more  above  their  chronological  ages  are  called 
"precocious;"  children  whose  mental  ages  are  2  years  and  3  years 
below  their  chronological  ages  are  called  "retarded;"  and  children 
whose  mental  ages  are  4  years  or  more  below  their  chronological  ages 
are  called  "mentally  deficient."  The  last  two  groups,  namely,  the 
"retarded"  and  the  "mentally  deficient,"  including  those  2  years, 
3  years,  4  years  and  more  mentally  below  the  chronological  ages, 
are  also  classified  as  "backward." 

This  test  is  arranged  to  count  by  years  and  fifths  of  years.  For 
example,  a  child  may  be  71,  72,  73,  74,  or  8  years  mentally,  which 
means  that  he  has  the  ability  to  do  the  work  of  a  normal  child  7-J-  years, 
7-f  years,  etc.,  of  age,  while  this  same  child  may  be  9  years  old  chrono- 
logically; he  would,  therefore,  be  If  years,  If  years  (written  I4,  I3, 
etc.)  mentally  below  his  chronological  age. 


.  MENTAL   TESTS   FOE  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN 


73 


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PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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MENTAL   TESTS   FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN.  77 

The  results  of  this  test  used  to  examine  these  743  children,  are 
given  in  Tables  28,  29,  and  30  in  terms  of  mental  and  chronological 
ages.  The  units  used  for  scoring  the  chronological  ages  are  half 
years;  the  units  used  for  scoring  the  mental  ages  are  slightly  different. 
For  example,  children  are  divided  into  groups  as  follows:  7  years  to 
72  years,  which  would  include  all  those  children  who  are  7  years  men- 
tally, 71  years  mentally,  and  72  years  mentally;  the  next  unit  is  73  to  74. 
It  is  seen,  then,  that  one  unit  contains  three-fifths,  while  the  next 
contains  only  two-fifths.  This  was  the  best  simple  classification  into 
half  years  which  the  Binet-Simon  tests  offered.  The  total  percent- 
ages, however,  are  in  whole-year  units  instead  of  half-year  units,  as  it 
was  thought  the  results  hi  such  percentages  would  be  of  more  service 
for  comparison.  The  totals  for  the  accelerated  group  were  not  put 
into  percentages  on  account  of  the  small  number  of  individuals. 

By  combining  the  totals  of  the  three  groups  of  children — those  who 
are  accelerated,  those  who  have  repeated,  and  those  who  have  not 
repeated — the  following  percentages  are  secured:  At  age,  39.2  percent; 
over  age,  19.6  per  cent;  under  age,  41.2  per  cent. 

By  a  comparison  of  the  percentages  of  the  children  who  are  of 
normal  age,  under  age  or  accelerated,  and  over  age  or  retarded, 
according  to  their  chronological  ages,  with  the  percentages  of  the 
same  children  who  are  at  age,  over  age,  and  under  age,  according  to 
their  mental  ages,  the  following  data  are  secured :  Chronological  ages — 
Normal,  48  per  cent;  accelerated,  16  per  cent;  retarded,  36  per  cent. 
Mental  ages— At  age,  39.2  per  cent;  over  age,  19.6  per  cent;  under 
age,  41.2  per  cent. 

From  an  analysis  of  these  data  it  is  seen  that  the  percentage  of 
children  who  are  of  normal  age  chronologically  is  larger  than  the 
percentage  of  children  testing  at  age  mentally.  Furthermore,  16  per 
cent  of  these  children  are  under  age  or  accelerated  on  the  chrono- 
logical-age basis,  while  in  relation  to  their  mental  ages,  19.6  per  cent 
are  over  age  or  capable  of  doing  more  advanced  work;  likewise,  36 
per  cent  of  these  children  are  over  age  or  retarded  on  the  chrono- 
logical-age basis,  while  in  relation  to  their  mental  ages,  41.2  per  cent 
are  under  age.  Manifestly,  then,  if  the  Binet-Simon  test  is  a  reliable 
criterion,  a  large  number  of  these  children  are  misplaced  on  the 
chronological-age  basis.  Some  are  capable  of  doing  more  advanced 
work  and  are  not  placed  high  enough,  while  there  are  others  who 
can  not  do  the  work  where  they  are  placed.  They  ought  to  be 
in  special  classes. 

If  these  743  children  are  divided  according  to  normal,  precocious, 
retarded,  and  deficient  mentality,  the  following  classification  is  secured  : 
Precocious,  1.7  per  cent;  normal,  8 1.8  per  cent;  retarded,  13.7  per  cent; 
mentally  deficient,  2.8  per  cent. 


78 


PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


By  comparing  the  percentages  of  children  at  age,  over  age,  and 
under  age  mentally  who  have  repeated  or  not  repeated  a  grade,  it  is 
seen,  too,  that  the  group  which  has  repeated  is  the  one  which  has 
received  the  higher  percentage  of  children  under  age,  and  the  group 
which  has  not  repeated  received  the  higher  percentage  of  children 
over  age.  This  comparison  is  as  follows: 

Percentage  of  repeaters  andnonrepeaters,  according  to  age. 


Per  cent  over  age. 

Per  cent  under  age. 

Per  cent  at  age. 

Repeats 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Total 

57.2 

16.6 

7.7 

37.7 

35.1 

45.7 

1  year 

32.4 
14.2 
6.3 

2.7 
1  4 

13.1 

2.8 

.7 

7.5 
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33.2 
4.5 

• 

2  years  

3  years  ...                            

4  years 

5  years 

6  years  . 

7  years 

2 

It  is  seen  from  these  percentages  that  57.2  per  cent  of  those  who 
repeated  are  under  age  as  opposed  to  16.6  per  cent  under  age  for  the 
nonrepeaters,  and  that  7.7  per  cent  of  the  repeaters  are  over  age  as 
opposed  to  37.7  per  cent  over  age  for  the  nonrepeaters.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  percentages  of  children  at  age  for  the  two  groups 
is  not  so  large. 

These  facts  describe  the  conditions  in  this  group  of  children  with 
reference  to  their  mental  ages  in  terms  of  under-age,  over-age,  and 
at-age  mentality,  or  in  terms  of  precocious,  normal,  retarded,  and 
deficient  mentality;  and  with  reference  to  their  chronological  ages  in 
terms  of  normal,  accelerated,  and  retarded  progress. 

Therefore  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  children  who  are  mentally 
over  age  have  not  repeated,  and  a  very  large  percentage  of  children 
who  are  mentally  under  age  have  repeated  at  some  time  or  another. 


MENTAL   TESTS   FOR   PLACEMENT   OP   CHILDREN. 


79 


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82  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 

In  order  to  show  that  many  of  the  children  who  are  chronologically 
over  age  are  also  mentally  over  age,  this  group  of  children  is  distrib- 
uted by  grade  and  by  mental  age  as  established  by  the  Binet-Simon 
test.  This  distribution  is  kept  separate  for  those  who  are  accelerated 
(Table  31),  those  who  have  not  reueated  (Table  32),  and  those  who 
have  repeated  (Table  33). 

In  most  city  school  systems,  it  is  the  practice  to  count  two  years 
to  a  grade  hi  estimating  the  percentage  of  over-age  children,  but  in 
the  Richmond  school  system  the  custom  has  been  to  count  one  year 
to  a  grade.  This  basis  necessarily  makes  the  percentage  of  over-age 
children  much  larger  than  if  two  years  had  been  used. 

Therefore,  for  a  child  to  be  rightly  placed  in  a  grade  his  mental  age 
ought  to  be  the  same  as  the  normal  chronological  age  of  that  grade. 
This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  this  child  is  as  far  advanced  as 
he  ought  to  be  according  to  his  chronological  age.  For  example,  on 
Table  32  are  shown  45  boys  and  41  girls  in  the  IB  grade.  The  normal 
chronological  age  for  a  child  in  this  grade  is  7  years.  The  distri- 
bution shows  that  1  girl  tests  6  years  old  mentally  and  is  therefore 
under  age;  32  boys  and  28  girls  test  7  years  old  and  are  therefore 
normally  placed,  and  13  boys  and  11  girls  test  8  years  old,  or  one  year 
ahead,  and  1  girl  tests  9  years  old,  or  two  years  ahead,  and  are  there- 
fore over  age. 

On  this  basis,  then,  it  is  found  that  hi  this  group  of  children  56.2 
per  cent  are  normally  placed  according  to  their  mentality;  19.1  per 
cent  are  under  age,  and  therefore  below  their  grade  mentally;  24.7 
per  cent  are  over  age,  and  therefore  above  their  grade  mentally. 

On  the  basis  of  chronological  age  and  grade,  it  was  shown  that  48 
per  cent  are  of  normal  age;  16  per  cent  are  under  age  or  accelerated; 
36  per  cent  are  over  age  or  retarded. 

According  to  their  mental  ages,  56.2  per  cent  of  these  children 
are  properly  placed;  while,  according  to  their  chronological  age,  64 
per  cent  are  properly  placed  if  the  16  per  cent  of  children  who  are 
under  age  is  counted  with  the  normal  group.  On  the  basis  of  mental 
age,  19.1  per  cent  of  these  children  are  mentally  below  their  grade. 
Therefore,  43.8  per  cent  of  these  children  are  not  normally  placed  on 
the  basis  of  mental  age,  while  on  the  basis  of  chronological  age  36  per 
cent  are  too  old  for  their  grade. 

By  distributing  these  percentages  of  children  who  test  at  age,  under 
age,  and  over  age  into  two  groups,  one  containing  the  repeaters,  the 
other  the  nonrepeaters,  it  can  be  shown  whether  one  group  receives 
a  larger  percentage  of  normal,  under  age,  or  over  age  mentally  than 
the  other.  The  results  of  this  distribution  are  as  follows- 


MENTAL   TESTS  FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN.  83 

Distribution  of  repeaters  and  nonrepeaters  according  to  age. 


Per  cent  over  age. 

Per  cent  under  age. 

Per  cent  at  age. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. • 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Repeat- 
ers. 

Nonre- 
peaters. 

Total..   . 

17.2 

21.9 

30.6 

15.5 

52.2 

62.6 

One  term  

15.0 
2.2 

21.5 
.4 

29.0 
1.6 

15.2 
.3 

Two  terms  

The  significant  points  to  be  noted  about  this  comparison  are,  first, 
the  group  that  repeated  receives  a  smaller  percentage  of  children 
who  are  over  age  or  high  mentally  and  at  age  or  normal  mentally 
than  the  group  which  did  not  repeat;  second,  the  group  that  did  not 
repeat  receives  a  much  smaller  percentage  of  children  who  are  under 
age  or  low  mentally  than  the  group  that  repeated.  It  is  evident, 
then,  that  the  children  who  repeat  make  up  a  great  majority  of  the 
cases  that  are  very  low  in  mentality.  Furthermore,  there  is  a  large 
percentage  of  children  who  are  repeaters  and  nonrepeaters  who  could 
do  work  beyond  the  grade  in  which  they  are  now  working. 

By  studying  the  individual  records  of  children  who  are  over  age 
and  at  age  mentally  and  chronologically  and  picking  out  those  who 
are  both  over  age  mentally  and  chronologically  and  who  are  at  age 
chronologically,  but  over  age  mentally,  the  following  facts  are 
secured : 

1.  Out  of  743  children,  268  are  over  age  chronologically.     Of  these 
268  children  who  are  over  age  chronologically,  209,  or  78.3  per  cent, 
are  over  age  mentally. 

2.  Out  of  743  children,  344  are  normal  chronologically.     Of  these 
344  children  who  are  normal  chronologically,  100,  or  29  per  cent,  are 
over  age  mentally. 

The  most  significant  points  about  these  figures  are,  first,  the  large 
percentage  of  chronologically  over-age  children  who  are  also  mentally 
over  age;  and  second,  the  large  percentage  of  mentally  over-age 
children  in  the  chronologically  over-age  group  in  relation  to  the 
percentage  of  mentally  over-age  children  in  the  chronologically 
normal- age  group.  According  to  the  test,  309  children,  or  41.5  per 
cent  of  the  743  children,  show  ability  in  advance  of  that  required  to  do 
the  work  they  are  now  doing. 

In  summarizing,  then,  the  following  points  should  be  noted : 

1.  Of  these  743  children,  1.3  per  cent  have  made  more  than  normal  progress,  38.8 
per  cent  have  made  normal  progress,  and  59.9  per  cent  have  made  less  than  normal 


2.  Of  these  743  children,  on  the  basis  of  chronological  age,  48  per  cent  are  of  normal 
age,  16  per  cent  are  under  age,  and  36  per  cent  are  over  age.     Furthermore,  52  per 


84  PLACEMENT   OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

tent  of  the  children  who  repeat  as  opposed  to  12.9  per  cent  of  those  who  do  not  repeat 
are  over  age,  and  6.8  per  cent  of  those  who  repeat  as  opposed  to  29.7  per  cent  of  those 
who  do  not  repeat  are  under  age. 

3.  The  Binet-Simon  scale  will  measure  the  amount  of  retardation  in  a  group.    Of 
the  children  who  have  repeated  a  grade,  57.2  per  cent  are  under  age,  while  only  16.6 
per  cent  of  the  nonrepeaters  are  under  age.    High  percentages  of  children  who  are 
mentally  over  age  go  with  those  who  have  not  repeated,  and  high  percentages  of 
children  who  are  mentally  under  age  go  with  those  who  have  repeated. 

4.  According  to  the  Binet-Simon  scale,  43.8  per  cent  of  these  743  children  test  men- 
tally above  or  below  the  normal  age  for  their  grade,  and  are,  therefore,  not  normally 
placed  on  the  basis  of  1  year  to  a  grade.     It  can  not  be  concluded  on  this  basis,  how- 
ever, that  all  of  these  children  are  so  misplaced  as  to  be  unable  to  do  fair  work,  but 
it  will  be  shown  later  that  a  large  number  of  them  can  be  better  placed  so  as  to  secure 
more  satisfactory  results  from  their  work. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FURTHER  APPLICATION  OF  MENTAL  TESTS  FOR  THE  PLACEMENT  OF 
CHILDREN  AND  THE  RESULTS. 


After  the  examination  into  the  mentality  of  the  entire  enrollment 
of  grades  1A  to  5 A  in  three  schools,  it  was  decided  to  examine  those 
children  who,  according  to  their  chronological  age,  were  too  old  for 
the  grade  in  which  they  were  working,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
placed  in  special  classes  or,  at  least,  be  given  some  kind  of  special 
instruction.  Consequently,  all  of  the  children  in  the  white  schools 
of  the  city  who  were  a  year  behind  their  grade  chronologically  or  who 
had  made  frequent  repetitions  were  tested  with  the  Binet-Simon 
scale.  This  procedure  resulted  in  the  examination  of  a  group  of  887 
children  selected  from  grades  1A  to  6 A,  inclusive,  of  the  different 
schools.  It  would  hardly  be  expected  to  find  in  this  group  a  large 
percentage  of  children  who  are  mentally  over  age.  These  children 
were  selected  because  they  were  chronologically  over  age  and  there- 
fore retarded  from  the  standpoint  of  age.  It  would  be  supposed,  too, 
that  they  would  be  limited  in  experience  and  that  this  deficiency 
would  be  shown  by  the  tests.  The  actual  results  from  the  tests,  how- 
ever, seem  to  warrant  a  different  conclusion. 

85 


PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN   IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 


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3 

MENTAL   TESTS  FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN. 


87 


Table  34  gives  the  distribution  of  these  887  children  by  grade  and 
chronological  age.  The  percentage  of  children  under  age  or  accel- 
erated, over  age  or  retarded,  and  at  normal  age  is  as  follows : 

Distribution  of  887  children  by  grade  and  chronological  age. 


Per  cent 
over  age. 

Per  cent 
under  age. 

Per  cent 
normal  age. 

Total                                                                                     

89.7 

1.0 

9.3 

1  term                                                          .         

30.7 

1.0 

2  terms 

32.1 

3  terms            

17.5 

4  terms                                                                        

7.5 

5  terms 

1.7 

6  terms                   

.1 

7  terms                                                                     

.1 

Manifes tly,  then,  a  large  majority  of  these  887  children  are  too  old 
for  the  grades  in  which  they  are  working  and  therefore  retarded  accord- 
ing to  their  chronological  age.  The  1  per  cent  of  children  who  are 
under  age  or  accelerated  and  the  9.3  per  cent  of  children  who  are  of 
normal  age  are  those  who  had  repeated  grades.  Entrance  to  school 
at  an  early  age  or  entrance  to  a  grade  in  advance  of  what  they  ought 
to  have  entered  makes  this  condition  possible. 

If  these  over-age  children  are  rightly  placed,  they  ought  to  test 
mentally  the  same  as  the  normal  chronological  age  for  the  grade  in 
which  they  are  working.  This  group  of  children  will  also  contain  a 
certain  number  of  children  who  are  very  low  in  mentality  and  there- 
fore under  age  mentally.  In  fact,  it  might  be  expected  that  there 
would  be  a  large  number  of  children  who  test  under  age  or  low  men- 
tally, since  there  is  a  tendency  sometimes  to  advance  slow  children 
who  are  greatly  over  age  for  their  grade  to  work  which  they  are 
really  not  prepared  to  do.  What  they  need  is  a  different  kind  of 
work  rather  than  more  advanced  work  of  the  same  kind.  If  many 
of  these  children  test  over  age  or  high  mentally,  it  would  seem  that 
the  grading  of  the  school  system  has  wrongly  estimated  their  ability. 


88  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 


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MENTAL   TESTS   FOR  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN. 


89 


Table  35  gives  the  distribution  of  the  same  selected  group  of  887 
white  children  according  to  their  grade  and  mental  age  established 
by  the  Binet-Simon  mental  test.  The  percentage  of  children  testing 
under  age,  over  age,  and  at  age,  according  to  the  grades  in  which  they 
were  working,  is  as  follows: 

Percentage  of  children  testing  under  age,  over  age,  and  normal. 


Per  cent 
over  age. 

Per  cent 
under 
age. 

Per  cent 
at  age. 

Total 

47.5 

12  0 

40  5 

One  term                                    

37.0 

10  9 

8  9 

1  i 

Three  terms            

1.6 

It  is  not  surprising  to  find  12  per  cent  of  these  887  children  testing 
under  age  or  low  mentally.  In  fact,  when  the  basis  for  the  selection 
of  these  children  is  taken  into  consideration,  it  is  surprising  that  there 
is  not  a  larger  percentage  of  children  in  this  group  with  very  low 
mentality.  But  it  would  seem  natural  to  expect  that  more  than  40.5 
per  cent  of  these  children  would  test  normal.  The  most  significant 
fact  about  these  figures,  however,  is  that  47.5  per  cent  test  over  age 
or  high  mentally.  From  experience,  it  would  seem  that  the  largest 
number  of  these  children  would  test  under  age  or  low  mentally. 

Therefore  there  is  a  large  number  of  these  887  children  who  are 
over  age  chronologically  and  who  also  test  high  mentally. 

By  actual  count  it  is  found  that — 

1.  In  this  selected  group  of  887  children,  795  are  chronologically 
over  age.     Of  these  795  children,  373  children,  or  46.7  per  cent  (42 
per  cent  of  the  total  number,  887),  are  also  mentally  over  age. 

2.  Of  these  887  children,  82  children  are  chronologically  at  age. 
Of  these  82  children,  17,  or  21.1  per  cent  (1.9  per  cent  of  the  total 
number,  887),  are  also  mentally  over  age. 

Therefore,  in  this  group  of  887  children  who  were  selected  because 
they  were  over  age  chronologically  or  had  repeated  frequently,  390, 
or  43.9  per  cent,  are  over  age  mentally,  and  also  either  over  age  or  at 
age  chronologically. 

It  is  quite  clear,  then,  that  a  large  number  of  boys  and  girls  in  both 
groups  which  have  been  studied  are  misplaced  according  to  the  mental 
test  employed.  If  this  test  is  an  efficient  means  for  determining 
where  children  ought  to  be,  those  children  who  test  a  year  or  more 
ahead  ought  to  be  advanced,  while  those  who  test  a  year  or  more 
behind  ought  to  be  given  individual  instruction  through  coaching  or 
in  special  classes. 

The  value  of  special  classes,  where  individual  instruction  can  be 
given  to  the  child  who  has  fallen  behind  his  grade  through  illness, 


90  PLACEMENT   OF   CHILDREN  IN   ELEMENTARY   GRADES. 

poor  attendance,  late  entrance,  and  the  like,  has  already  been  demon- 
strated. In  a  similar  manner,  the  class  for  the  child  who  is  deficient 
in  mentality  has  proved  its  worth  for  up-to-date  school  systems. 
Furthermore,  the  Binet-Simon  test  has  been  used  with  much  success 
to  select  the  children  who  have  been  placed  in  such  classes.  Can  this 
test  be  employed  to  indicate  where  children  who  test  ahead  of  their 
grade  or  high  mentally  ought  to  be  placed  ?  A  test  of  the  validity  of 
placing  children  according  to  mental  tests  would  be  found  in  actually 
accomplishing  this  performance. 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  or  not  children  can  be 
advanced  as  indicated  by  the  Binet-Simon  scale,  the  principal  of  each 
school  was  given  a  typewritten  sheet  containing  the  names,  the 
chronological  ages,  and  the  mental  ages  of  all  the  children  tested 
in  his  school.  Along  with  this  list  was  given  a  tabulation  of  the 
mental  ages  of  the  children  by  grades  which  showed  those  whose 
mental  ages  were  above  the  normal  chronological  age  of  their  grade, 
those  whose  mental  ages  were  the  same  as  the  normal  chronological 
age  of  their  grade,  and  those  whose  mental  ages  were  below  the 
normal  chronological  age  for  their  grade. 

On  the  basis  of  this  information,  each  principal  was  asked  to 
go  over  the  list  with  his  teachers  and  wherever  possible  give  those 
children  who  tested  ahead  (usually  a  year  or  more)  of  their  grade  a 
trial  in  the  next  grade.  As  a  result  of  this  experiment,  2  schools  in 
which  all  of  the  children  were  tested  and  2  schools  in  which  only  a 
selected  group  was  tested  succeeded  in  advancing  children  in  accord- 
ance with  the  results  of  the  mental  test.  Since  there  were  13  schools 
in  which  children  were  tested,  it  might  be  expected  that  if  4 
schools  could  do  this  much,  others  ought  to  be  able  to  do  the  same. 
Several  causes,  however,  prevented.  In  the  first  place  there  were 
only  3  schools  in  which  all  the  children  were  tested.  In  the  other 
10  schools  only  a  selected  group  of  children  was  tested.  These 
children,  as  before  stated,  were  selected  because  they  were  a  year 
or  more  over  age  chronologically  or  because  they  had  made 
frequent  repetitions.  Consequently,  the  chances  for  children  to  test 
ahead  in  such  a  group  were  fewer.  Moreover,  because  these  chil- 
dren constituted  a  retarded  group,  there  was,  to  some  extent,  a 
feeling  that  they  could  not  do  more  advanced  work,  and,  therefore, 
it  was  not  worth  while  to  give  them  a  chance.  In  the  second  place 
these  results,  in  a  number  of  cases,  were  put  in  the  hands  of  the  prin- 
cipal too  near  the  end  of  the  term,  so  that  a  trial  in  the  grade  above 
was  practically  impossible. 

The  results  from  this  experiment  in  the  4  schools  in  which  children 
were  advanced  according  to  their  ability,  as  indicated  by  the  Binet- 
Simon  test,  are  presented  below,  showing  the  number  of  children 
advanced  and  the  grades  which  they  skipped : 


MENTAL   TESTS   FOK  PLACEMENT;  OF / 
Children  advanced — Grades  skipped. 


Grades  skipped. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Total. 

IB  grade  

g 

g 

15 

2  A  grade    .  . 

2 

j 

2B  grade  

3 

3 

Q 

3  A  grade  

1 

4 

5 

3B  grade  

3 

5 

g 

4  A  grade    

3 

5 

g 

4B  grade 

4 

5 

5A  grade...  .        

4 

2 

Q 

Total 

29 

31 

CM 

Of  these  60  children,  30  children,  or  50  per  cent,  were  too  old  for 
their  grade,  both  mentally  and  chronologically. 

In  addition  to  these  children  who  were  advanced  without  any 
special  instruction,  55  children  out  of  a  group  of  78  children  who 
were  placed  in  special  classes  in  which  they  received  individual 
instruction  succeeded  in  skipping  a  grade  in  one  term,  or  four  and 
one-half"  months.  The  ages  and  grades  at  which  these  children 
skipped  are  as  follows : 

Grades  skipped  by  55  children. 

Ages,  in  years. 


7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

IB.. 

g 

6 

2A 

2 

1 

2B                                                                       

1 

3 

2 

1 

3A 

1 

2 

1 

3B                                          .            

1 

2 

6 

4A 

3 

3 

4B 

4 

5A 

6 

1 

Total                                          .           .... 

9 

9 

5 

10 

•   21 

1 

In  addition  to  these  55  children  who  succeeded  in  skipping  grades 
by  means  of  individual  instruction,  there  were  two  children  who 
skipped  two  grades  each — the  3 A  and  3B  grades — in  the  same  term. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  number  of  children  who  have  skipped 
grades  is  small,  nevertheless  this  number  serves  to  indicate  what 
strong  possibilities  there  are  in  such  work  where  school  authorities 
and  teachers  give  more  time  and  study  to  the  widely  varying  heeds 
and  capacities  of  the  children  who  come  under  their  charge.  There 
seems  to  be  no  question  that,  if  the  Binet-Simon  test  is  a  fair  and 
accurate  criterion  of  a  child's  mental  achievement  as  well  as  of  his 
mental  capacity,  as  the  results  of  this  study  seem  to  indicate,  many 
of  the  children  in  the  two  groups  which  have  been  studied  are  being 
held  back  when  they  have  the  ability  to  advance  more  rapidly. 


92  PLACEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  ELEMENTARY  GRADES. 

The  results  from  the  four  schools  where  children  were  permitted 
to  advance  gradually,  as  indicated  by  the  test,  seem  to  warrant  the 
conclusion,  first,  that  the  Binet-Simon  test  can  be  followed  as  a 
guide  to  a  child's  ability,  and  second,  that  a  large  percentage  of 
children — much  larger  than  was  thought  by  principals  and  teach- 
ers— can  not  only  be  advanced  to  a  higher  grade  and  meet  the  require- 
ments of  that  grade,  but  also  maintain  as  high  a  standard  as  in  the 
grade  below  and  as  high  a  standard  as  a  great  number  of  those  who 
are  normally  promoted. 

CONCLUSION. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  in  the  city  of  Richmond  a  very  small  per- 
centage of  school  children  have  been  completing  their  work  in  the 
time  planned  for  them.  Furthermore,  a  very  large  percentage  of 
children  have  been  leaving  school  long  before  the  completion  of  the 
work  of  the  elementary  grades.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  school 
system  as  a  business  concern  receives  a  different  output  from  that 
for  which  it  plans. 

Furthermore,  it  is  evident  that  the  chronological  age  as  a  basis 
for  determining  the  grading  of  pupils  needs  to  be  supplemented  by 
the  mental  age.  There  are  many  children  in  the  schools  to-day  who 
are  able  to  do  work  in  advance  of  what  they  are  doing,  and  they 
should  be  permitted  to  do  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  determining  the  mental  ages  of  children  so  that 
they  can  be  properly  placed  in  the  grades,  mental  tests  can  be  used 
to  great  advantage.  The  tests  that  are  now  available  need  to  be 
supplemented  by  other  tests,  so  that  a  greater  degree  of  accuracy 
can  be  secured.  In  the  near  future  tests  for  efficiency  are  destined  to 
acquire  a  more  prominent  place  in  administering  school  systems  than 
at  present.  Definite  standards  and  tests  are  needed  in  order  that 
output  be  made  commensurate  with  expenditure. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Ayres,  L.  P.— 1909.— Laggards  in  Our  Schools. 

Buckingham,  B.  R. — 1913. — Spelling  Ability — Its  Measurement  and  Distribution. 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  59. 

Courtis,  S.  A.— 1912.— The  Courtis  Tests  in  Arithmetic. 

— .—Educational  Aspects  of  the  Public  School  System  of  New  York  City,  Part  II, 
Elementary  Schools,  subdiv.  1,  sec.  D. 

Elliott,  E.  C. — 1905. — Some  Fiscal  Aspects  of  Education.  Teachers  College,  Columbia 
University,  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  6. 

Goddard,  H.  H. — 1911. — Two  thousand  children  tested  by  the  Binet  Measuring  Scale 
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Hillegas,  M.  B. — 1912 — A  Scale  for  the  Measuring  of  Quality  in  English  Composition 
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Keyes,  C.  H.— 1911.— Progress  Through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools.  Contributions  to 
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Kuhlman,  F.— 1911.— The  Binet-Simon  Tests  of  Intelligence  in  Grading  Feeble- 
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Thorndike,  E.  L.— 1908.— The  Elimination  of  Pupils  from  School.     Bulletin  No.  4, 
1907,  Whole  Number  379,  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. 
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Whipple,  G.  M.— 1910.— Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests. 

(93) 


I 


VITA 

The  author  of  this  dissertation,  Kremer  J.  Jloke,  was  born  at  Emmits- 
burg,  Maryland,  on  November  19,  1878.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  of  Maryland,  graduat'ng  from  the  Emmitsburg 
High  School  in  1899.  He  was  a  student  at  Mt.  St.  Mary's  College  from 
1900  to  1904,  from  which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  in  1904;  and  a  graduate  student  at  the  University  of  Virginia 
during  the  year  1906-1907.  He  was  a  student  at  the  Columbia  University 
Summer  School  in  1908-1911,  from  which  institution  he  received  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1911,  and  a  student  at  Columbia  University 
during  the  year  1912-1913. 


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